The reason: to love an avenger
by carlmuz
Summary: Konan left to avenge Sasori's death, to prove her capability and her love for Sasori. When her attempt to kill Sakura was foiled and she was captured, she began to learn and realize the true meaning of love from none other than her captor,Hatake Kakashi.
1. the day she snapped

Hi again, everyone. This is the sequel to my story That's why. I have never wrote long stories before but I decided to give it a cry. Thank you to Cute23Flower and xXHyuugaSakuraXx for the idea! If you have not read That's why yet, you would probably get lost on why she suddenly acted the way she did.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, though I wish I do.

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The annoying sound of her alarm clock woke her that morning, but Konan just was not too ready to be awake yet. Her head felt heavy and her whole body ached. Without even bothering to open her eyes, she turned off the alarm clock and went back under covers.

"Konan," someone knocked on her door calling her name. "Konan, it is time to get up," he called again. She ignored him completely and went back to her sleep. As far as she knew, she and Pein did not have any missions that day so what's the big deal if she stayed in a little longer?

It was not too long before somebody else started knocking on the door. "Konan, would you wake up already? I'm hungry, un!" she instantly recognized the voice to be Deidara's. "So what? You still can survive without breakfast!". "Aw, come on! You don't know how it feels right having a pair of extra mouths to feed, un!".

"Oh yeah, must be really bad!" she replied sarcastically. She heard Deidara grumbled through the door and left. Finally some peace, or so she thought. "Konan, are you alright? Are you still alive in there?" came another series of knockings.

The blue haired kunoichi reached for her fluffy pillow and covered her ears with it. She never thought it was that hard to get a little more sleep. But the knockings would not stop at all. 'Oh, Kami-sama! What have I done to deserve this?' she thought begrudgingly and pulled her warm blanket over her head.

"Ne, Konan-chan, can you please come out for a second? It is urgent," finally, she had reached her boiling point. Can't these people give her some peace? She threw her pillow at the door and her blanket off the bed. "This is better worth it, guys!" she stomped over to the door and turned the knob. "Okay, what do you want?" she practically yelled at Tobi.

"Well, Tobi is hungry and Tobi does not know how to cook," Deidara raised his hand in the background, followed by a loud stomach rumbling. "Fine, sit down!" she stomped directly towards the kitchen, ignoring the other's stare as she passed. "Now, all of you come looking for me. Before this, this weakling could not give you more than a paper cut, ne Itachi?" she shot a rather dirty look at the Uchiha.

He remained stoic, undeterred by her words. "And you would not mind if this weirdo, pain in the neck cook for you, Deidara?" Konan searched in the fridge and took several eggs. Her hands were busy preparing food, as busy as her mouth. "Maybe if I can't cook to save budget I will not remain in this organization, Kakuzu? Or you would want to replace me with that Konoha shinobi if she is can cook better, ha Pein? I am sorry that you can just eat these bacons and eggs, no Konan on the menu for today, Zetsu. As Hidan would put it, it is damn enough! I am tired of all this!" she exhaled harshly, eyeing them one by one.

"Konan? What are you talking about?" Pein finally asked her after a few seconds of silence. Deidara's visible eye was slightly larger than usual. Tobi's head was tilted to the left innocently while Hidan was blinking dumbly. "What am I talking about?! I am talking about me, myself, Pein! I am tired of being looked down upon! I heard what you said yesterday, every single word of it. And now, be happy because I am leaving and you will get to recruit that Haruno Sakura you adore so much!".

Konan had made up her mind. With her final word, he slammed down the plates she was holding on the table and stormed away to her room. As fast as she can, she grabbed her supplies of cloth and weapons. Just when Pein reached her room, she had disappeared in the form of thousands of paper butterflies, flying above their heads into the open world outside.

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So, how is it for the beginning? Please tell me how is it, thank you and have a nice day! :-)


	2. Her newfound goal

Hello there! Well, I managed to update up till this far, but I am going back to school so I might not be able to update more in a long time. Anyway, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I do, I would be rich by now.

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Konan thought quickly of her destination. She need to find a place to head towards for now, and she could not think of even one. Unwarily, she found herself in front of Sasori's grave, the bouquet she made for him was ripped and torn everywhere. Her feet suddenly stopped. She felt the need to at least visit him before she went somewhere else.

"Sasori, I am leaving. To search for a better life and also…" she paused for a second before her fists tightened. "To avenge your death!" Konan never knew that she possessed the determination. All her life, she had been following Pein's shadow, his every single step, his orders. His dream was also her dream. Having a personal mission at last made her feel so much alive.

"Konan-san," however the feeling does not last long. Kisame's tall figure dropped beside her and spoke clearly. "Konan-san, please don't risk your life. It is a dangerous world out here for you to be alone. Please, come with me," Konan felt anger burnt in her chest. "How did you know I'm here?" she asked him harshly, opposite to her gentle tone.

"I figured out that you will not leave someone precious without saying goodbye, and so do I," his uncertain tone made her spun to face him completely. "Why do you have to meddle in my life, Kisame? Who gave you the right to do so?" she stared him down for along time. "Konan-san, whatever the decision you make, I will not force you. You are free to choose, I can just try to make you stay with me here so that I can protect you with my life,".

"I can protect my self well. I am a fully fledged shinobi though my loyalty does not lay with any of the hidden villages," she controlled her anger a it after hearing the sincerity behind his words. "The time will come when the flower will bloom and the butterflies roam free, Konan-san. And so do you. Please stay here, with us, with Sasori, with me. Your chance to shine will come some day," he moved to hold her hands in his larger ones.

"You don't understand, do you? I need to do this, now let me go so I can pay my last respect to Sasori and get the hell out of here!" he released her hands almost immediately. Konan glared him for a couple of seconds before she knelt down in front of the grave and put her hands together, closing her eyes.

'Sasori, wait and see. The time will come for your death to be avenged,' she thought before reopened her eyes and straightened up. Kisame was still in his old position, looking at her as she was folding another bouquet of flower for her fallen comrade. How he wished the flower to be made for him, by her. And how he wished at least once she will look at him the way she used to look at Sasori. A look of affection.

"So, you have said good bye to your precious person. Can I say good bye to mine?" he asked her quietly, almost nervous. "Go on then. It is not my business, any way," Konan replied without looking at him, her eyes still fixed on the tombstone. He suddenly but gently pulled her into his arms and planted a long kiss on her forehead. She was so shocked by the gesture, her cold blue eyes widened slightly.

"I thought I had made myself clear yesterday. I love you, Konan-san. That's why I care for you, because you are my precious person," he said with a smile on his face. Konan could find the words the say. She slowly took off her Akatsuki cloak and handed it to him. "Kisame, I'm so sorry but I can't stay here. I have my goals to achieve and barriers to pass. But one thing for sure, I'll be back,".

"I'll be waiting for you then," she almost felt guilty seeing his sincerity in every words. As if her hands moved on their own accord, she pulled the paper flower from her hair and placed it on his palm. "As long as this flower does not crumple, I will return," she had made an oath, in front of her precious person's grave to the one who is the man who thought her of his precious person.

He looked affectionately at the flower. Admiring its every petal, the way it was folded. Perfect in every way, just like the one who made it. Just like her, his precious person. By the time he looked up again she had vanished from sight, but he could still hear her promise through the trees. "I will return,".

Konan jumped through the trees, heading straight to Konoha. She had a new mission, a new purpose of life. She had made up her mind, she will not return as long as the people who killed Sasori still roam on God's green earth.

Konan heard about Sasori's grandmother's death from Zetsu, so that was one person out. Now, only another person left. Haruno Sakura, the apprentice of the Fifth Hokage, and teammate of Uzumaki Naruto, the container of the Kyuubi. 'This should be interesting,' her usually stoic features cracked into a sadistic smirk.

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Konan had finally set out to reach her goal. Will she ever make it? Don't forget to review, and thank you for reading.

Have a nice day! :-)

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	3. A new oppurtunity

Hey there

Hey there! Sorry for not updating so long. I got a couple of days break so finally I can add on a new chapter. Here it is!

Konan stopped abruptly on a branch and scouted over the horizon. Not far from there was a small village, of which she had come across a few times before. She already had plans in her mind. First, she will lay low for a while until she had managed to gather supplies and weaponries she needed. To face the Hokage's apprentice, she will have to be extra ready.

She jumped down and landed on her feet on the ground. Time to put on a disguise. Konan had changed her training attire to something more normal. She had put on a forest green kimono and her blue hair dyed black. Her shuriken holster and kunai pouch hidden beneath the clothes.

Clutching a basket filled with flowers in one hand she approached the gate. As expected, two guards blocked her way, one of them even fingering his holster mockingly. "Where do you think you are going?" ask the one with wild brown hair and a long scar on one cheek.

"Oh, sorry. I was thinking about spending some time here. I have never been here before, but it is very beautiful," Konan had made sure she put on her best innocent voice. It must have worked since they let her pass. Another guard inside the gate told her to write her name down in the record book, which means she had to think of a name, fast. 'Wazana……Miwako,' that name suddenly popped into her mind.

"So, Miwako-chan! You are thinking of what to do in this village? If you want some fun, you will be going to need the right person," he cocked an eyebrow seductively, or so he thought. "Thanks for the offer, but I am not interested. Maybe you can have some jolly good time with that depressed friends of yours," she pointed at the guards on the gate, before turning around and walked away.

The village was quite traditional. The road was not from pavement, and the buildings were almost entirely from woods. A large fountain was placed in the heart of the village, with all the important places in the village around it. This included the only inn in the village. Konan wanted a nice, warm bath and a good, restful sleep more than anything else at that moment. She had been travelling for three days straight from the base and would appreciate an opportunity to have some rest.

The inn was not as bad as she thought. Instead of gloomy and dark like the shops next to it, the lobby was very bright. A small fountain was put in the middle of the lobby and a long wooden bench was pushed up against the wall on the right side. A large calligraphy art was hung on the wall in the left side and a tall potted plant was stashed in one corner. Overall, the inn offered a warm sense of welcome.

She went straight for the counter where a short, plump woman with healthy looking rosy cheeks looking over the record book. "Yes, miss. May I help you?" she asked with a smile. "I would like to rent a room please," she faked a smile in order to maintain her disguise. "Well, you sure are lucky. The rooms are fully booked but one of our customers seems like he would like to cancel his reservation. You can take his room in that case," 'Miwako' nodded and reached for a pen to write down her name, but someone snatched it away before she can even put the tip on the paper.

"You can take his room if he decided not to come. Unfortunately, he had arrived and would like to have his room," the man said casually, playing the pen between her gloved fingers. "Sir, I don't know your problem but my problem right now is that I want a room," she said sternly and attempted to reach for the pen from his hand.

He moved away and appeared on her other side. "Sir, I am really sorry. But you were three hours late and I had given your room to this young lady-". "I was late but I am still here and I still want my room. She can spend the night in any guy's house but me unfortunately. Not a single girl will allow me to spend a might over at their place. Now, who should get the room?" he moved forward and wrote down his name. Konan yanked away the pen and the book from him. "Me, myself and I! Not you, I'm sorry," she cross out his name and put on her fake name before he snatched it from her again.

"Troublesome. This girl is as stubborn as a donkey," her heightened sense of hearing caught his mutterings. "You called me a what?" she asked dangerously, her fingers tapping the table as a warning. "I didn't say anything. Why would I call a lioness like you a donkey? I mean-". "That's it! You are asking for it!" she was about to draw out her kunai when something glistening on his forehead that caught her attention. A Konoha Hitai-ate, which means he was a Konoha shinobi.

Konan is meeting someone new. Who would it be? Any guesses?

Thank you for reading and a lot more thank you for reviewing!


	4. The Konoha shinobi

Hi again, everyone. I managed to finish another chapter of The Reason just in time, just before going back to the hostel. It will be at least another two weeks before I can update again.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Konan stared for the longest time at the insignia. "You are a Konoha shinobi," she said quietly. "Yes, I am. Is there anything wrong with it?" she quickly snapped out of her trance and shook her head. She did not miss a glint of curiosity in his eye. That guy was someone for her to be careful. He hid his emotions well and very good in reading people's body language.

Outside, the rain had begun pouring heavily. Like it or not, both of them would have to spend the night indoors. "Oh my, it is raining. How about this, dears? You share your room, but I'll assign another room to one of you first thing tomorrow. How does that sound?" Konan found herself looking at him, and him looking at her direction. She could as well have guessed what was going through his mind. But she knew that was an opportunity for her, to learn more about Konoha, and Haruno Sakura.

"We'll take it," they said together before looking at each other again. The woman laughed in delight and moved towards the stairs, motioning for them to follow her. He followed almost immediately. "Satoshi, take out an extra futon!" a teenage boy around the age of fourteen appeared from a door behind the counter a few seconds later, carrying a mattress with a pillow.

"Miss, are you going to fill in room 7? The only room left right now?" he asked looking very interested. She nodded. "With that guy?" she nodded though this time reluctantly. "That room was reserved for couples who would like to have their honeymoon. It is very special. I am sure you and him would find it very, romantic," he grinned boyishly, that reminded her of Tobi.

"Yes, I am staying in room 7. But I am not feeling lovey-dovey right now, I have only known him for five minutes and wished that I haven't and you are barely of age to talk about romantic. Now, keep it shut," he quickly quiet down and increased his pace, scared to walk beside her alone.

They walked along the long hallway and stopped at the room at the very end of the hall. The woman opened the door and welcomed them inside. Satoshi just entered, dumped the futon and left immediately.

The room was very spacious and clean. The walls were painted with light green colour. A low table was placed in the middle of the room facing the balcony, a dim lamp over it. A desk and a book shelf stashed in one corner on the right side. On the left side a large closet was placed and at the end of it was a door that leads to the bathroom. The lighting was unexceptionally dim, emanating a romantic feeling, though she really hated to admit it.

"Well folks. Enjoy your stay," the woman clasped her hands together and closed the door. "Don't worry. We will!" he called back and put down his backpack. Konan went to the farthest end of the room and put down her bag. "This is my space and over there is yours. No stepping into the other's space," she said sternly, trying to emphasize her point. "Yeah, yeah whatever," he brushed her off, not once looking up from a small, orange book. Konan had a feeling she would be really pissed off by him sooner or later.

"Leader-sama, there is no sign of Konan anywhere in this country," Zetsu reported calmly, opposite to Pein who was pacing up and down in the hideout. "Of course you wouldn't. Konan is not stupid. She would stay away from forests, knowing Zetsu's advantage. I bet she is already in the Wind Country right now, where the only person who knew the way well was Sasori," Kakuzu spoke out his opinion.

"Right now, Konan is our most dangerous enemy. She knew everything about us, our fighting styles, secret techniques, weaknesses and advantages-". "Do you really think she would turn us to our enemies? Konan might not seem like it, but she is a very loyal person. Once she laid her loyalty on our side, she would never betray us," Kisame suddenly spoke up.

Itachi opened his eyes and looked directly at his partner. "You seemed so sure about that, Kisame," he noted. Pein looked at them both. Something popped into his mind. "Well, it is set then. Itachi, Kisame your next mission is bring Konan back," Itachi looked up in alarm. Kisame just exhaled lightly.

"Whatever you do, bring her back safe and sound, alive. If she refused to with you, then use force. Do you can or do you cannot?" he asked both of them for conformation. Itachi looked at Kisame for any answer. When he found none, he turned back to the leader. "Yes, we can," Pein handed them a scroll. "Good luck," he wished them. Itachi rose from his seat and set out, Kisame on his tail.

Reviews, anyone? Thank you for reading and reviewing!


	5. Revealations

Hey there, everyone! It had been a long time. I apologise for keeping you waiting too long but I had been through a busy schedule. Now, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters.

Konan looked up at the stars. She was sitting on the balcony, her back against the wall. A heavy sigh left her lips. "What will you guys would be doing right now?" she wondered out silently. Even though she was really mad with them, she couldn't help her self to hate them. After all, they are her only friends since she was just a young girl. If it wasn't for Pein, she would have died in the war in Amegakure.

Konan went back to her plans. 'How can I enter Konoha? If I were to use that shinobi, it is going to be easy. But how am I going to gain his trust?' such thoughts lingered in her mind. "Miwako-san," she turned her head slightly to the left. His masked face stuck out through the half-opened door. "Would you like to come in and have dinner with me?" she could tell that he was grinning from the wrinkles of the mask. "No, thank you. I am not hungry," she answered quickly, much too quick on her liking. A second later, her stomach grumbled loudly and he cracked into laughter.

Her cheeks felt hot from embarrassment. In the end, she had to give in and accept his invitation. She climbed down from the balcony and went inside. On the low table, she saw two trays of food. He had took one of them for him and waited for her to sit down. She chose to sit opposite him since it is the farthest side from him.

"Itadakimasu," he said before digging into his dish. She did the same and ate a sushi. The taste of food in her mouth relieved her greatly. She hadn't eaten anything besides plants found in the forest since she left the hideout. "Ne, Miwako-san," he tried to get her attention. After ignoring him for the total of five minutes, she decided that it wouldn't be so bad, or so she hoped.

"What are you doing here, all alone?" he stared directly into her eyes, a typical way to detect lies. She averted his gaze, acting as though she was not interested in his question. "Looking for a new start. How about you? Got tired of your shinobi works?" he just shrugged and continued eating. She also resumed finishing her onigiri. Silence enveloped the room as they were both on their own thoughts.

Konan shifted in her place a bit to be more comfortable. Unfortunately, her kunai got in the way and accidentally grazed her skin. She cried lightly and kept her kunai out of the way before he came to her side and inspected her bleeding shin. "How did this happen? Is the floor too sharp or something?" he asked as he inspected the floor and table. "It's nothing, really. I'm just fine," she tried to let her foot off from his grip but he was not satisfied.

After examining the cut for a couple of seconds more, he put his palm over the cut and focuses his charka. A green chakra glowed on his hand and slowly heals the cut. "There, good as new," said him proudly. She looked at it for a few seconds then turned to thank him. He was too happy too her liking. As if he discovered something big.

"Itachi-san, must we really force Konan home?" Kisame asked his partner while they were both resting under a large shady tree. Itachi chose to ignore the question. He took his straw hat and covered his face with it. Kisame took the hint and leaned back on the tree trunk. It was his turn to keep watch while Itachi get some sleep. What can he do to fill the two hours of silence?

He sneaked a glance at Itachi to make sure he was asleep before taking out the paper flower Konan gave him. Carefully, he laid it on the grass and straightened out a wrinkled petal. That was when he realized a small tear at one of the bottom petals. He didn't remember the tear when Konan first gave him the flower. And he certainly took good care of the flower. How did that happened?

"I never knew you enjoyed origami, Kisame. And a flower, nonetheless," Itachi's voice rang in the silence. Kisame cursed himself for forgetting the fact that Itachi was a really light sleeper. Even a change in his breathing will wake his partner. Kisame tried to keep the flower back but Itachi was quicker to snatch the flower. He examined the flower closely and drew to a conclusion. "Konan gave it to you, I suppose? This flower is her artwork. I knew her way of folding too well," Kisame looked at him in alarm.

"Is this why you refuse to bring her back? Because you are the one who helped her escape?" Itachi asked again, this time he fingered one of the petals. Suddenly, he pulled one of the petals from its fold. "No, stop it, Itachi!" Kisame finally snapped and made an attempt to grab the flower from Itachi. But the younger man had always had the advantage in speed.

"What happens if I didn't, Kisame? What is the importance of this flower, Kisame? A remembrance of your love?" Itachi pulled another petal out of its fold. "Stop it Itachi, or Konan will never return!" Itachi halted at the words. How can such thing happen? He will never let Konan go. Itachi promised to himself to bring her home, where she really belongs. And this partner of his said that she will never return if the flower damaged. Should he believe it or not?

Konan gasped slightly. Her foot was ripped in a couple of places. "Kisame, what have you done?" She knew she would be in trouble if the shinobi saw it. Her secret will be blown. She tried to cover it with her blanket but failed. His eye caught sight of it first. "What's wrong with your foot? Grazed by a kunai again?" she shook her head and answered. "Not a kunai….," she was trapped by her own words. She spun quickly to meet his victorious smirk. He had caught her alright.

"Feeling like telling me your real name, 'Miwako'-san?" he mocked her. In a second, he had her pinned between him and the wall, a sharp kunai just an inch from her neck. He moved in a flash that she can't do anything. "What are you doing?" she hissed angrily but he used his kunai to cut the kimono she was wearing, revealing her training gear she wore underneath, complete with her kunai pouch and shuriken holster. "Think you are so clever, aren't you? But you can't fool me, Akatsuki," his voice sounded deadly right now. The temperature of the room felt like had dropped several degrees.

Konan then realized something. The nail polish! Of course he would become suspicious. She had to think of something fast. "Don't think I would be defeated that easy," she smiled mysteriously and dispersed into butterflies. Hatake Kakashi was caught off guard by this move that he had to activate his sharingan to detect which one was her. Out of nowhere, a powerful kick was sent to his side and made him fell to the floor but he was quick to regain his balance. A moment later, he leapt with kunai in hand.

"Mom, room number 7 sure is noisy," Satoshi noted. "Let them be, Satoshi-kun. Let them feel the joy of love," his mother brushed it off and resumed knitting. Occasional thumps and thuds didn't disturb her a bit. "Nothing, I am just afraid that this inn will collapse, that's all. Don't you think they are fighting, as in shinobi's battle?" Satoshi still could not think of another topic. His mother thought for a while. "Nah, that is impossible. Kids today sure have a great imagination," she mumbled and continued her work.

Itachi and Kisame watched in alarm as the paper flower started to rip itself on Itachi's palm. They looked at each other. "This means one thing," Itachi nodded his head and handed the flower back to Kisame. "Konan is in danger and needs our help. Fast," after grabbing their bags, both of them disappeared from sight.

Well, reviews anyone?

And thank you for spending your time reading this story. Have a nice day! 


	6. Her unexpected actions

Hey there,everyone! Sorry for the long wait. This big exam I'm going to face in October is just around the corner and I have to work extra hard.

But I would try to spare some time to write some fics. Thank you for spending your time on my fictions. Now, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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Konan leapt away from him, holding her now limp right arm. The large gash along her forearm was bleeding profusely and showed no signs of stopping. The room was a total mess. The table was turned upside down; two of its legs had destroyed. The walls were full of Kunai and shuriken and stains of blood were everywhere. Kakashi was on the other side of the room, panting heavily. He was still recovering from the mission of rescuing Gaara from the Akatsuki and the battle had depleted his chakra faster than usual.

The kunoichi cursed silently at her mistake. How could she forget that he had copied more than a thousand of jutsus? This guy is far more dangerous than she thought. Seeing that the blood gushed out from the wound in a fast rate, Konan reached for her torn kimono and quickly but carefully bandaged her arm. She can't afford to lose more blood.

She saw her opportunity in his weak state. But just when she grabbed one of the kunai that impaled on the wall near her, a loud knock on the door captured both of their attention. "Hatake-san, Wazana-san, are you guys alright?" the woman's voice made them look at each other. "You are going to pay for all the damage!" Konan said through gritted teeth. Kakashi look bewildered. "No way! I ain't going to pay for any of these. I need my money to buy a new collection of Icha Icha Paradise now that you stabbed one of my favourites," he too whispered at her, then eyeing his orange book on the wall above his head, a shuriken keeping it in place.

The knocks grew louder that it had woken up other guests in the inn. "You have to do something. It is your fault in the first place that we battle," she pointed at him with an intense glare. "No, it isn't. You are the Akatsuki in the first place!" she tried to resist the urge to roll her eyes. Keyword, tried. She thought quickly. No, she definitely would not want to pay for the damages. It could cost her a large fortune. But to stay and do something like she and Pein always did when they refused to pay will just reinforce Kakashi's cautious attitude towards her. Moreover, to have the ninjas of this village to know her as one of the Akatsuki will just slow her in her mission.

Finally, she sighed real heavy and limped towards him since he could hardly move. "You are going to thank me for this, Hatake!" before that, she shot him a warning look that could even make Gaara flinch. She then knelt down and slung his right arm over her shoulders and helped him to the window. The people at the door had grew noisier and in the process of breaking down the door. "Will you hurry up? I don't really feel like paying," Kakashi asked annoyingly.

"Will you shut your big mouth for a second?!" she yelled exactly on his ears. Kakashi swore that he can't hear anything for the next ten seconds. Konan adjusted his position and closed her eyes, praying for the best before leaping off the balcony just in time when the door was tore down. She vanished in the darkness of night with him, going directly for the village border.

Itachi increased his speed, even though he himself did not know where to go. Kisame was just a little way behind him, also bearing the same feeling with him. Maybe. They had been heading for the wind country at their top speed for three hours since the paper flower suddenly ripped on its own. He was sure the flower had some kind of connection with their now missing member.

Maybe they can use the flower to locate her whereabouts. Or maybe….Itachi shook his head. He felt as if his head is in the clouds for a few days and sometimes fail to think rationally like he used to. He peeked from the corner of his eyes at his partner. After years working together, he can understand Kisame pretty well. He can even read his thought sometimes. And this time, it was not so hard.

He could tell that Kisame had really fallen for their lone female member. Not just now, but he had noticed it since a long time ago, when Sasori was still alive. He noticed that Kisame had always tried to beat Sasori in their practice. Or how he tried his hand on art crafts so that he can have something in common to share with Konan, just like between her with Sasori. Her origami art and his puppet making skill seemed to fit just well.

Itachi had never missed the look of jealousy that crossed in Kisame's facial expression every time Konan and Sasori came home from practice together, sometimes she will ride on his back. He had even come across the poem that Kisame intended to give to her on her birthday, but Sasori beat him to it. And now with Sasori gone, he still lost to him in many ways. Itachi knew how hard it is to love someone who didn't love you back. He had it once and the event left a scar in his heart until now.

After feeling that what they were doing was useless, Itachi slowed down and stopped abruptly. Kisame followed his suit, but he showed signs of protest. "Kisame, listen. We can't guarantee if she is really in danger. That flower could mean something else. Even if there is any danger, I am sure that she can take care of herself. Right now, we have to plan back carefully," Itachi laid out his thoughts as simple as possible. "But Itachi, that flower guarantees her safety. It ripped suddenly, so that shows that she is not in a condition that I would call safe," he said sternly. Suddenly, he felt something stinging his neck. A second later, everything went black.

Konan was breathing heavily when they arrived at a clearing in the forest. Just when she released him, she lay down out of exhaustion. The bleeding on her arms had grown worse, that she painfully got up and reopened the bandage. She put her left palm over the gash and tried to gather healing chakra but failed. Her chakra was almost drained after she used it on her feet to support Kakashi's weight. Plus, she was growing weaker from the blood loss. Suddenly, she felt his warm hand over hers. Konan looked into his visible eye in confusion.

"Continue it," he said seriousy and she obeyed it. She tried to heal it again and this time, she felt chakra from him was transmitted into her palm. Both of their chakra were not enough to heal it completely but enough to stop the bleeding. Just when the last drop of blood cleaned, she passed out from exhaustion. Kakashi moved to catch her just in time, and gently lay her head on his lap. He too, then drifted into a long, peaceful sleep leaning against a giant tree trunk.

Itachi studied a map of the shinobi countries carefully. They are now just a day walk from Wind Country where everyone thought Konan would be. But, is it really or all of them had predict her actions wrongly? 'If I am Konan, what would I do?' he asked himself as a way to understand Konan's way of thinking. She had a mind different from anyone else he knew. Konan tended to act opposite to what people would have expected. Just like someone he knew…

Well, reviews, anyone? Thank you for reading and reviewing!

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	7. dreams and flower

Okay, next chapter is out. This is when Orochimaru started to appear in the story and the secret of the flower unveiled. Enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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A loud, thundering sound woke her instantly. Konan looked around her and moved quickly to wake Nagato. "Nagato-kun, wake up, wake up. I'm scared," she whined to him just like any nine years-old child would do. Her friend woke up groggily and rubbed his eyes. The eyes that hold great powers unraveled yet by any human, even himself. Konan quickly threw her arms around his neck and buried her dirt-smeared face into his chest. He responded, putting his arms protectively around her shivering body and patted her blue hair gently like a big brother.

"Go to sleep, Konan-chan. The enemies will not find us here. I will make sure of that," he spoke assuring words to her and she felt safe in his embrace. One minute later, she had already dozed off to continue her peaceful sleep under the ruins of what used to be the Ninja Academy of Amegakure. When he made sure that she was deep asleep, Nagato set her aside and crawled outside. His mission was to eliminate whatever that had been scaring her.

Ten minutes later, Nagato crawled back into the ruins and settled down next to her, pulling her into his arms. He was her source of comfort and she was his. She was waken by the gesture and turned around to face him. "Naga-kun, how come I can smell blood on you?" she asked with a puzzled expression though it was not seen in the dark. She felt him shifted uneasily. "They have gone, Konan. Now go back to sleep," he more like ordered her to. "But Nagato, how did you kill them? Did you…use it? Did you do what you did to Yahiko?" a low grumble from him confirmed her fear.

She struggled to get free from him. The visual image of Yahiko's bleeding body gave her the fear. She was not cut to live in the middle of a war, especially with only her ten-year old friend Nagato. But he pulled her closer to him, hurting her slightly. "Konan, you have to wake up from your dream. This isn't a happy, risk-free childhood anymore. If you want to survive, you will have to kill, even if it means losing your family and friends in the process. Bear that in mind and you will become powerful. If not, you are just a waste of time," his words sliced her severely. Konan remembered herself staring into the Rinnegan eyes for the longest time.

"Miwako-san," she heard someone calling her fake name. Konan quickly bolted up Kakashi's lap. So, the whole Nagato thing was a dream, she thought to herself trying to catch her breath. Apparently she had been talking in her sleep because Kakashi was quick to question her. "Who is Yahiko? What did Nagato do to him?" she paused for a moment before shooting him a sharp look. "It is none of your business, Hatake,". "It is when you spend all night talking in your sleep...on my lap,".

"Whatever, I don't care," she turned away from him trying to hide the slight blush that appeared on her face. She forced herself to stand up despite the exhaustion. She needed to be as far as possible from that Konoha shinobi, especially in her weakened state. Konan did not know what drove her to help Kakashi escape from the inn as well. What kind of kunoichi helps a known enemy escape from paying for property damage? 'I know the answer. A lousy one,' she answered in her head as she packed up her things into her backpack.

Kakashi however just leaned against the tree trunk, his hands at the back of his head watching her struggling to roll up a bandage. "Need help with it, Miwako-san? You pretty sure looked awful," Konan hated to admit that she _desperately _needed help. Her right arm was limp and unable to move, thanks to Kakashi's attack last night. The wound was too large to be closed with a simple healing jutsu, and she did not have enough chakra to perform a more complicated jutsu.

"It will really help me if you would just shut up!" she replied roughly and tried to bandage her injury using her left arm. But doing it was proven harder than it seemed. If she just left it, it will surely get infected. Like it or not, "Yeah, sure. You just need me to shut up," Kakashi teased her cheekily when she turned to him holding out the bandage. Fortunately, he appeared to have forgotten that she was a part of the Akatsuki, but she would still be cautious of him. He was acting surprisingly nice.

"It is very lucky you know healing jutsus. This is a quite serious wound," he commented after finished bandaging her arm. "More like it is lucky that I am left-handed. At least I can still use my jutsus," she barked at him and pulled away with quick a thank you. "No need to be that harsh. I know you are still sulking because of yesterday's loss," "One more word and this kunai will go down your throat, Hatake," he really annoyed her to the end of her nerves. Hastily, she slung her backpack over her right shoulder and spun around facing him. "This is the end, Hatake. I'll go my way and you follow yours," she spoke quietly. "Don't worry. We'll meet again," he smiled mysteriously before disappearing with his own backpack. Konan blinked several times, before letting out a string of colorful curses. He had stolen her ring while she was asleep.

Itachi took the flower for the umpteenth time and studied it. He noticed that the rip on its petal had repaired itself. He also noticed that it was plain white instead of its initial bluish white color. Is this flower is a voodoo or something? Why would Konan give something so precious to Kisame? Giving the flower was almost like giving in her life. What was she thinking? Is this some sort of message of her whereabouts?

He carefully straightened up a bent petal in the bottom. Every time he spotted a flaw on the flower, he will carefully fix it. Itachi loved to watch her elegant fingers fold papers into flowers; he watched it too many times that he had came to memorize it pretty well. After he fixed everything, he began thinking of something else. 'If this flower truly represents Konan, there must be somewhere where she stored her chakra,' he studied the flower again.

His concentration was disturbed by Kisame who began stirring. He woke up wearily and tried to sit up properly but the effect of Itachi's attack was still affecting him. "Itachi, that really hurts," he mumbled incoherently. "Kisame, did Konan said anything about this flower?" he ignored his partner's complaint and showed him the flower. "She said 'as long as the flower does not crumple, I will return' or something like that. Why did you ask?" Itachi shifted his gaze from the flower to his partner. "I finally know the reason why she entrusted you with this flower,".

Konan tried to trace him but found no result. Once she got her hands on him, she will rip his head off. Or so she hoped. The ring is the most prized possession of any Akatsuki member. Konan sent hundreds of butterflies to scout for him before stopping on a relatively large branch. She gets tired easily nowadays. "He can't be too far," she talked to no one in specific. Konan lied down with her palms on her abdomen and began thinking back of what she had been working for. Leaving the Akatsuki just to get caught in a chase with an annoying jerk from the village she was heading, it really made her go insane. Not literally, thankfully. She let out a long breath and wondered how the others were doing.

Deidara stared down on the name carved on the stone. He easily recognized it as Konan's writing judging from the neat and artistic way of calligraphy. In their organization, only the three of them were involved in arts, Sasori, Konan and himself. "Sasori-danna, hi," he grinned sheepishly. "It had been along time we did not get together, un," he continued while scratching the back of his neck. After a few seconds, he put a small clay bird on top of the memorial stone and left. He had never been very good in expressing feelings. But right now, he was really missing his partner, their usual bickering about arts, or they share stories about their respective villages and the times when Sasori told him about Konan. And he had never forgotten how jealous he was at that time.

Orochimaru looked on his assistant. Gray hair held up in a ponytail, with deep black eyes and spectacles, Kabuto looked like a typical medical ninja. But he was no ordinary ninja. He was one of the best ninjas around, and one of his most loyal followers. "You wish to tell me anything, Kabuto," his eerie voice rang throughout the underground chamber. "Yes, it seemed that your wish to obtain Pain's ability is nearly possible," he reported with a slight tone of pride. "How is that?".

"I heard he had a child, an unborn child carried by another member of the Akatsuki," this bit of news made Orochimaru quickly made his way towards the young man. "You mean, Konan-chan?" Kabuto let out a satisfied smile. "It seems so,".

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Well, what will Orochimaru do to fulfill his goal? Wait till the next chapter.

I would really appreciate some reviews here, guys. Have a nice day!


	8. Konoha Team sets out

Hi, everyone! Enjoy reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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With Kakashi

The sun had begun to set in the west horizon. Orange rays scattered across the almost cloudless sky. Kakashi lay flat on his back with his backpack as a pillow and his left leg dangling over the side of the large branch he was laying on. He was busy examining the ring he had successfully stolen from the female Akatsuki. The kanji 'Haku' carved on the purple diamond caught his attention. "What is the meaning of this?" he wondered out loud.

The jounin was so caught up with the ring that he didn't notice the presence of another shinobi nearby. The shinobi sneaked closer and closer and still he failed to notice it. Kakashi examined the inner side of the ring. At first glance, it was as though nothing was there. But Kakashi was no ordinary ninja. He possessed the Sharingan, one of the last of its kind. He noticed a miniscule writing under the diamond base, but because of the darkness still couldn't make out the words exactly.

But his attention was diverted almost instantly when the sound of leaves rustling became louder and in a matter of seconds, he was surrounded by sand. The sand didn't trap him like Gaara's sand, but it was making him difficult to breath. His vision was also blurred by the mini sandstorm and he began to cough violently. Suddenly, a hard blow landed on his back. Another one hit him square in the face. In the sand, he can't determine which direction the attacks came from. A final kick to his torso knocked him out cold.

With the Konoha Folks

Tsunade stared wide eyed at the stacks of paperwork. "Why again did I accept this Hokage position?" she sighed heavily and reached the one at the top. "Group 11 had successfully captured the escaped cat, Taro. Do I even need to know about that? 1 lost cat will not make a difference to the village," she mumbled incoherently. More and more D-ranked mission reports were tossed aside. Her concentration of crumpling mission reports and tossing it aside was disturbed by a fast rapping on her window.

"Damn it, Jiraiya! How many times did I have to tell you, use the door! Have some respect, will you?" her old teammate had to cover his ears from her shrill voice. "I'll remember that next time, but you have to listen to this. According to my sources, one of the members of Akatsuki had left the base and now moves alone. It is our chance for us to extract information because they usually work in pairs. And to think that Orochimaru had his eyes on this particular member, it is our golden opportunity," the Fifth Hokage was listening intently to him by this point.

"Anymore information, Jiraiya?" she enquired but he just smirked and sat down in front of her. "The best part is, this member is near to where Hatake Kakashi is right now,". "You must be joking! Kakashi is far from a fit condition to get involved in a battle, especially with an Akatsuki member!" Jiraiya didn't even flinch when she slammed the table with her fist. "He did before, and he said she is not as dangerous as the other Akatsukis,". "Did you say 'she', Jiraiya? Akatsuki have a female member?". "I also had just known this fact. Surprising, isn't it? This will make our battle more interesting. Let's see if the others will come out if we use this one as bait," He quickly got up and left through the window with a mysterious smile.

Tsunade blinked a couple of times before rummaging through the reports once again. Once she had found the paper she wanted, she ran out of the room and called out to Shizune. "Shizune, send in Uzumaki Naruto, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, Tenten and Nara Shikamaru. Immediately!" the younger woman was startled by her command that she had let go all the scrolls she had been carrying in her arms. The hall was a mess but thankfully Tsunade had retreated into her office. Genma who was standing nearby approached to help her collect all the scrolls. "No, Genma. Please summon Naruto, Team 8, Tenten and Shikamaru as fast as possible. The Godaime is in one of her foul mood again. It must be something very important," he nodded in understanding and transported to the location he was sure Naruto would be, Ichiraku's.

As expected, Naruto was there and to his relieve so does the rest of Rookie Nine and Gai's Team. "Naruto, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Tenten and Shikamaru. The Hokage wants to see the six of you immediately," Naruto groaned because he wanted to eat more ramen. And to think that today everyone is treating him to it. "What does Tsunade-baachan wants? I am having one of the best moments of my life!" Tenten rolled her eyes. She was ready to go, Kiba standing next to her, Shino next to him. Shikamaru muttered "Mendoukusai," under his breath while Hinata had stood up and stood next to Tenten. "I don't know. Probably another mission, I guess. Well, I have some important matters to attend to. You guys better go fast, she did not look really happy," Naruto stubbornly continued eating ramen, and even reaching for Hinata's unfinished bowl of ramen. It took the combined effort of Kiba and Tenten pulling him and Rock Lee and Sakura pushing him off the table to get the hyperactive ninja to move.

In two minutes time, all of them were already in the Hokage's office listening to Tsunade's briefing. "An Akatsuki member had ventured out alone. Your mission now is to-" "Kill him? No way, that's impossible!" Naruto practically yelled in Kiba's ears. "No, your mission is to bring _her_ back alive. We could obtain useful information if this mission succeeds. Remember, Akatsuki work in pairs, but this one does not. Whatever you do, put safety first. Even if _she_ is alone, _she_ is still a member of the Akatsuki, an organization of S-rank criminals. Keep that in mind. For this mission, I appoint Shikamaru as the leader and Tenten you are second in command," Shikamaru lazily caught the scroll thrown by Tsunade and keep it in his vest pocket. "If there is nothing left, get moving!" the six shinobis nodded in unison and left the office for their new mission.

With Konan

Konan rubbed her eyes wearily and looked around. It was long past midnight judging from the quietness and darkness. She slowly sat up from the trunk she was leaning on and stretched. 'Wait, how can I stretch with my limp arm?' she stopped midway and looked at her right arm. The wound that was there before was gone completely. She also felt refreshed and energetic, as though her charka had just been replenished.

She smiled in satisfaction and threw her hair back, letting it dance in the cold night breeze. Her hair was slightly longer than Itachi's, and stopped at her mid back. Its curls gave her a childish and innocent look, she remembered Pein once commented. Konan finally put on a traveling cloak and slung her back pack before started walking again. She had to reach another village before her supplies run low again. And the nearest village right now is the Sand Village. From what she had heard among the members of Akatsuki, the Kazekage is a personal friend of Uzumaki Naruto. Perhaps she will learn any useful information about him, and will lead her straight to Haruno Sakura.

Konan flipped down the branch and landed on a lower branch, she jumped to another branch before sliding down the trunk. Her sharp hearing caught the sound of a kunai flying towards her direction. Before the kunai can hit her, she jumped upwards and grabbed a branch before trying to look out for her attacker. A shower of shurikens came from her back but she was quicker to dodge. Konan flipped down and landed on the ground gracefully. The attacker was still unseen by her azure blue eyes. This had irritated her a bit.

Her hands formed a series of seals before a strong gust of wind blew around her. She let thousands of paper shuriken into the tornado, cutting leaves and branches. By the time her attack finished, nearby trees were chopped down, the paper shurikens impaled everywhere. She snapped her fingers and all the shurikens flew back to her. Some of it had traces of blood on it. 'Human's blood,' she thought to herself and shot her sight around trying to look for the one who attacked her a few moments ago.

"Come out, will you! Don't be such a coward!" she shouted angrily. No response at all. It irked her even more. She had wasted her time on this. Konan spun around to continue her journey to Sand Village but was stopped by footsteps behind her. A young man with gray hair and spectacles was standing there, looking at her with a smile. He got several bruises and cuts on his body, but some of it appeared to be had been healed.

"Hello there, Konan-chan. I'm Yakushi Kabuto. A pleasure to meet you," he held out a hand as a gesture of friendliness.

With Itachi and Kisame

"Is this how I should do it?" Kisame asked Itachi with his eyes never away from the flower. Itachi nodded in approval and straightened out another petal. "She needs your support in her battles, which I guessed she did the same with Leader-sama. Fuse in your chakra into it and she will benefit from your chakra." it was Kisame's turn to nod. "Now, I want to get some sleep. You keep an eye on this flower, and the rabbits. I don't want burnt rabbit as a meal," the Uchiha pulled his thin blanket over and dozed off peacefully. Kisame leaned back and wondered what Konan would be doing right now.

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Well, reviews please! Thank you very much!

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	9. Past or future?

Hello there, everyone! I am so in the mood today that I managed to finish another chapter of this fic, and it is longer than the other chapters too! I really appreciate reviews from my readers, you know. Many thanks to **Cute23Flower** and **Happyhappy** for reviewing all chapters! Thank you also to **PolkaDottedPrettyKitty **for reviewing a couple of times and also thank you for the advice. It helped me a lot. And also thank you to **Hanako77, Akatsukifan** and **Chocolateluvr** for reviewing this story.

As a sign of appreciation, I would like to dedicate this chapter to all of them!

Well, on with the chapter then!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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**With Konan**

"Who are you actually, Yakushi Kabuto?" she raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, clearly telling him that she will not accept his hand. He chuckled, much to her irritation. "Do I have to introduce my name again when you are clearly being able to say it right?" he pushed his spectacles up his nose with a finger. He can feel her tensed up over his remark.

"I know your name, Yakushi! I just want to know who you work for, and what is it that you want from me?" her glares didn't make him flinch even a bit.

"I'm not the type to give information like that easily, Konan-chan,".

"Then, scramble off. Don't waste my time when I have something more important to do,".

"Actually, I want to propose you an offer,".

"No, I refuse to listen to any of your nonsense,". Konan spun around and started walking but the young man still haven't give up.

"You are really intending of keeping the baby for the next six months? Wouldn't it be a burden for you as a kunoichi?" she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Don't you ever dare interfering with my life! I have enough people to worry about and I don't need you to jump on the bandwagon," she merely glanced at him.

Kabuto appeared in front of her and blocked her way. She was quite tall for a woman, and able to look straight into his eyes without having to look up. "Out of my way, Yakushi!" her tone was serious and deadly. "You still haven't listen to my offer," he was also equally serious this time.

"Fine then, if it makes you happy, spill it,".

"Here it is. I can help to revive your loved one, in exchange for your baby. How does that sound?".

"No, thank you. Your offer sounds tempting but I have to decline it," she didn't even spare a second to think over the offer and walked away. Realizing that Kabuto will not give up, Konan made a few hand seals and disappeared from the spot, leaving only shards of paper in her place. Kabuto panicked and turned around, hoping to find her. When there were no signs of her at all, he cursed loudly and echoed through the woods.

**With Kakashi**

His head was very heavy and his throat felt itchy. Kakashi moved his gloved hand to his throbbing head while his other hand supported himself up from the bed. 'Wait, bed?' his eyes immediately shot open. The first thing he saw was the grinning face of Sabaku no Temari, the elder sister of Kankurou and the Kazekage. Her giant iron fan put up against the wall of one side and his ninja gears were put on top of a side table.

"How are you feeling now, Kakashi-san? I hope not too bad," she cheerfully greeted him. "Ah, yes. Minus the killing headache and some muscle cramps here and there, I'm fine. How did I get here anyway?" Kakashi was still holding his head in his hands. Temari handed him a glass of water. "You really don't want to get dehydrated here in the desert, which will just add to the headache," she generously advised. He just nodded weakly.

"We found you by the border of the west side of the village. And by we, I mean Kankurou and myself. Do you remember who did this to you?" she sat on the chair next to him and rested an arm on the bed. Kakashi shook his head slowly. "No, all I remember was a sandstorm and someone attacked from all directions. I can't detect from where did the attacks come from, or how many involved in it," he was being truthful. After all, Suna is one of Konoha's strongest allies.

"Hmm, I understand. You see, Kakashi-san. Since the Shukaku was extracted from Gaara, shinobis from nearby villages had started to cause havoc in the borders. We can't just kill them, that way we will just make enemies. But they still didn't get it. We have signed a peace treaty but still, it is no use. Gaara just had to restrain himself from crushing them with his sand. Even I myself have to keep myself from blowing them away with my fan," Kakashi found himself smiled at the last part.

"I've seen you succeed in doing so. That fan seems to be not used in quite a long time," she grinned at his comment and quickly got up. "If you need anything, just call the nurse. I'll drop in again later," the 17 years old girl walked out through the door, not before reaching for her priceless fan. Kakashi leaned back onto the pillow and stared out of the window to the blue sky. The colour reminded him of the unique pair of eyes that "Miwako" had. "What a pity she never wanted to tell me her real name," he said to himself. His hand reached for the ring he managed to keep in a hidden pocket just in time before being knocked out.

**With the Konoha Team**

Shikamaru kept an eye over his teammates. Kiba and Akamaru were taking the lead because of their keen sese of smell. Hinata was up next, with her Byakugan ability she can back Kiba up and keep an eye on the surroundings. Shikamaru was behind her so that he can keep an eye both on the front and the back of the team. Naruto was behind him because of his abundance of energy, he can back both the front side and the back side. Tenten came next, with her 100 percent accuracy, she was a skillful long-ranged and short ranged fighter ad would be able to back Shino up, who was bringing up the rear and also back Kiba, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Naruto in the front.

With his signal, Kiba and Akamru dashed forward, followed by Hinata. Naruto was a bit surprised by the pace they were going but was happy with it. The sooner they reach the target, the better. Hinata had improved tremedously over the years, he noticed. She was more agile and quick jumping from branch to branch and had no trouble keeping up with Kiba's speed. Tenten also had become better and better than the last time Naruto had seen her. Probably a result from vigorous training under Gai-sensei alongside Lee and Neji. She was as fast as Lee in speed and as graceful as Neji in her movements. Both the kunoichi were on par with their male counterparts.

Shikamaru calculated in his head that with the speed they are going, they will reach Suna in less than three days. Firstly, they will head towards the Sand Village, where their target are rumoured to be last seen in. Plus, their Kakashi-sensei was in Suna. Maybe they could give him and the Sand Siblings a visit. But he must remember to buy Temari a present, since he forgot about it the last time she was in Konoha. He surely doesn't want to be chased around with that giant fan of hers again.

**With Konan**

Konan looked behind her. She was really hoping to lose that gray haired young man. How did he know that she was pregnant was still a mystery to her. Something about him that made her very cautious when she was around him. He reminded her abit of someone before. Someone whom she had detested with the deepest hate. Sasori's ex-partner, Orochimaru.

"Don't think you can escape that easy, Konan-chan. I will not leave you alone until I get what I want," out of nowhere he jumped down in front of her. She backed away from him with a sharp glare. "I have told you what my decision is. No, and that is final!" she flung a kunai at him but he caught it between his fingers.

"Come on, don't you want to reunite with the one you love so much? Akasuna no Sasori, formerly my master and my current master's ex-partner. All you have to do is give in the child of the man you didn't love at all," Kabuto still have not give up. Konan was disturbed a bit by the offer.

Truth to be told, she missed Sasori too much. She missed the times when they will sit together under the stars and shared stories. But Konan had never be the one to show her feelings to other people. "I said no, Yakushi!".

"Well, Konan-chan. I give you two day time to think it over. If you agreed, be sure to prepare a sacrifie to revive Sasori-san," Kabuto smirked victoriously seeing the dazed look in her eyes when Sasori's name was mentioned. This time, it was Kabuto who left Konan alone in the woods.

_flashback_

Konan concentrated on her medical scroll. Her curly hair trailed down her back and some rested on her shoulders. She had discarded the heavy Akatsuki cloak and training gear, but wearing casual clothes instead. A dark blue t-shirt with a long-sleeved fihnet underneath and a three quarter black slacks. Her bare feet were propped up on the desk, a habit she picked up from Hidan. But hey, that was her room, she was free to do aything she wanted.

A series of knocks averted her gaze from the croll to the door. She quickly put dow her feet and aid calmly. "Come in, it is not locked," the door opened to reveal Sasori, also without his Akatsuki cloak. "Konan, the stars outside are beautiful," unconciously, she smiled. With an understanding nod, she rolled up her scrolls and arrange them neatly back on the shelves.

While they were walking through the halls, Sasori unexpectedly hold her hand in his, sending a shiver down her spine. When they entered the living room, Konan quickly released his hand and walked a little ahead of him. Every other members of the Akatsuki were there, each eyeing her and Sasori with their own reasons.

Konan quickly exited their hideout and climbed to her favourite spot on top of their base. Sasori joined her a couple of seconds later and settled down next to her. His hand reached for hers once again and their fingers intertwined. Spontaneously, she leaned her head against his shoulder and stared deeply into his soft brown eyes. "Is there anything you would like to tell me, Sasori?" she asked suddenly after a few minutes passed by in silence.

"Nothing. I just miss you, that's all. You have been very busy lately with your missions," she smiled at his answer. "You know what, I would really love to meet that Hatake Kakashi everyone was talking about. He sounds like an interesting fellow," she decided to change the topic. It was always very awkward to talk about feelings, especially with him.

"Konan, pleae don't change the topic. You know perfectly what I'm saying,".

"Of course I understand. You are missing our great time together,".

"Yes, no! I mean something more, Konan,

"What do you mean by more?"

"This," he leaned down until they are face to face. She saw nervousness in his eyes and felt her own heart thumped harder than normal. Seeing that he will not make the first move, Konan hesitantly pecked his wooden cheek, which he returned with a quick peck on her lips.

"Oh, man! You guys could have done better than that!" a loud noise made both of them turned around. "Deidara, I told you to shut your big mouthes!" Hidan smacked hard the blonde's head. Surprisingly, even Itachi was there.

"Let's get out from here," Sasori grabbed her hand and led her through the woods, leaving the arguing members behind. He led her until they arrived at a small pond in a clearing. Konan looked around in awe. She had never been there before. He pulled her into his embrace suddely, catching her off surprise. "I love you so much, Konan-chan," with the magic word, he leaned in and kissed her lovingly. She reponded to his kiss and put her arms around his neck. "Me too," she managed to whisper back.

_end of flashback_

Hot tears trailed down her face as one of her most preious memories flashed back. She was torn between two paths right now. To be with Sasori once more, or to let him stay in her memories. To harm the whole community of ninja world or be a saint, sacrificing her own needs before others. To be with a gone loved one or on the way loved one, her baby.

A loud barking of dog suddenly broke the silence the night offered. "Hey guys, I found someone here," more voices were heard. Konan lifted her head to see who had came. Six people and a dog appeared into the clearing she was settling in.

The dog was amazingly large with white fur. Its owner had wild brown hair and markings on his cheek. Another boy had his hair in a high ponytail that make him look like a pineapple. The boy at the rear had sunglasses and a hoodie jacket on. The older looking of the girls had her brown hair in two buns while the other one was clearly a member of the Hyuuga Main House, judging from her eyes and her forehead.

The last member of the party made her interested completely. From the stories of Deidara, Itachi and Kisame, the blonde ninja with blue hair was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, and teammate of Haruno Sakura.

"Uzumaki Naruto,".

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Well, how is it? Please oh please let me know! Please review! **I am hoping at least 10 reviews for this chapter**. Can I?

Thank you for reading! Have a nice day...


	10. Encounter with the enemy

Hello again, guys! I am so glad that I received more and more reviews from you guys. Thank you so much! Now, let's move on to the new chapter of "The Reason".

And another thing, I am thinking of changing its title. Any ideas? Please, please, I really need your opinion guys!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

**start of chapter...**

"Uzumaki Naruto," said Konan again, this time with a smile on her pale face. Naruto's cerulean blue eyes widened slightly as she rose to her full height and pulled on her Akatsuki cloak. Even in her tired state, Konan still emitted the aura of fear that resolved around the six Chuunins.

Sure, Naruto had battled Itachi, and Tenten had battled Kisame before but both of them were just clones. They were no match for the real Akatsuki member in front of them. "How do you know my name?" Naruto being himself, shouted and prepared to spring at her, but Shikamaru was quicker to hold him back.

Konan bowed her face down as if searching for an answer. "Who would not know about you Uzumaki Naruto, Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko?" she spoke calmly to him with her azure blue eyes bore into his. Her statement received different reactions from his team mates.

Hinata turned off her Byakugan out of shock, Kiba and Akamaru looked at each other, a slightly surprised Shikamaru exchanged gaze with Tenten who was clearly not affected by the piece of news. Only Shino was undeterred by the exposure, or so it seems. No one knew what happened beneath the high collar and hooded sweater.

Konan studied them one by one and smirked. "So this is the only thing that Konoha was able to do? Sending in a couple of low-class ninjas to face an S-class criminal like myself. That Hokage of yours is very interesting," she purposely irritated all of them. Kiba clenched his fist in anger hearing those words and sent a couple of kunais towards her direction. "Kiba, no!" Shikamaru tried to stop him but it was too late. He had charged at Konan while forming several hand seals.

Konan had expected this, and held up one hand with her other hand caught the kunais thrown by the Inuzuka. She threw it back at him and formed her own hand seals. In a matter of seconds, she leapt before Kiba can ram into her with his drill attack. Konan twisted her body and deliver him a hard, wind-enforced kick at the back of his head, sending him flying into a large tree trunk.

Akamaru who can't stand seeing him lying motionlessly against the trunk, leapt at her with bared fangs. Konan easily jumped on his back and dug a kunai dipped in poison at its weak spot on his spine before pulling it out in a fast motion. Being a medic ninja herself, she knew very well where to attack and where not to. She kicked aside the large dog and turned to face the rest of them. "Who's up next?" she asked coolly, swinging the blood soaked kunai between her fingers.

Naruto looked in disbelieve at Kiba and Akamaru's fates before turning his gaze at her almost emotionless face. Almost, but not quite. He sensed something was bothering her.

"Naruto, Shino, Tenten, Hinata, if we are going to face her, we will have to work together," Shikamaru immediately took the role of being the leader of his group. Naruto moved in closer to him, and so did Shino, Tenten and Hinata. One by one, the Nara laid out his plan to the four of them, with Hinata keeping her Byakugan on to keep an eye on Konan who was still standing some distance away from them.

"They think they can beat me with such a pathetic plan," she muttered in boredom. For a split moment, she forgot about the problem she had thinking of before the arrival of the Konoha team. "Come on guys, we can do it!" Naruto's cheer grabbed back her attention to them. 'He was just like Itachi described,' she thought as the four of the Konoha shinobis disappeared, leaving only Naruto facing her.

"So, you really think you have what it takes to defeat an Akatsuki member, do you?" Konan asked him in a provocative way. Being Pein's partner for such a long time, she had inherited some of his traits. "No, I know I don't have any special powers to face you. But I have a plenty of back ups to do so!" he answered her cheekily and formed his signature hand seal. She was quick to read his movements and threw a couple of shurikens at his hands. "Kage Bunshin, eh? Too bad!" she sent more shurikens at his hands, making him unable to perform the jutsu because of being too busy dodging the weapons.

Konan took the opportunity to disperse into butterflies in order to mess up with his concentration for a while and reformed herself in mid-air, right on top of him. As he looked around for her, she dove down with a chakra powered punch, aiming it at him. When he realized it, it was too late to do anything.

However, a quick flash of indigo entered the atmosphere and pulled him out of the way just in the nick of time. Konan's powerful blow hit the ground, and even though Naruto was saved from punch, he and his saviour were hit by the wave of the chakra released. Both of them were sent into the ground with a hard impact, forming another crater beside the large crater formed from Konan's punch.

Shikamaru witnessed the whole incident from his hiding place behind some bushes. 'Hinata...saved Naruto..,' he was a bit shocked by the determined action of the meek Hyuuga heiress. But he had not much time to further admire her action. His plan had been wrecked before it can even start. Shikamaru mentally tried to form a new strategy inside his head. 'That woman was so troublesome,' he gritted his teeth out of frustration. A small movement in the branch opposite him told him that Tenten was also feeling uneasy with the whole incident.

He looked at his right, where Shino was supposed to be. 'Seemed fine at his position,' he thought to himself. He turned his attention back to Naruto and Hinata down there. Was the punch so hard that they were unable to move at all?

Naruto slowly get up from the ground, trying to bear with the pain. Who would have thought that the kunoichi have super strength like Tsunade and Sakura? Hinata was also doing the same beside him. "Naruto-kun, are you alright?" if it wasn't for Konan suddenly appeared by the crater they were in, Naruto would have exclaimed in shock.

"Enough of those lovey-dovey time, because I hate it!" she stomped her feet to the ground, and it cracked into two making Naruto and Hinata fell back to their feet. She jumped down next to Hinata and lifted her by her collar. The Konoha kunoichi tried to pry open her grip but it was useless. The older kunoichi clearly superior to her in strength. "Such a pity. You are a Hyuuga heiress, aren't you?" she waited for no answer before throwing her to the direction where she spotted a tiny movement a second ago.

Tenten's brown eyes widened as the Hyuuga heiress soared towards her. She succeeded in catching her from crashing into the large trunk. But just as she set Hinata down, Tenten was surrounded by a whirlwind courtesy of Konan of course. Just like she did with Kabuto, she slipped in several shurikens. The whirlwind got bigger and began to tear down nearby trees.

"You can stop playing hide-and-seek now! I'm getting bored!" she shouted to no one in particular, but her cold voice rang in the clearing which had gotten bigger due to her attack. No response came from the Konoha team. 'So, is this what I will have to expect from Konoha soon?' she slung her back pack casually on her shoulder. Shinobis from a nearby village will arrive sooner or later to inspect what happened, so Konan decided to leave the area as soon as possible. It worth nothing to attract attention to herself too soon.

"If I can just get any informations from them," she whispered to her self and looked back for a split second. Her sharp sight spotted a scroll beneath some chunks of wood. With the help of two of her paper butterflies, the scroll was slowly delivered into her hand. "Don't go. I am not finished yet," the weak voice of Naruto made her halted for a few moments.

"Do not worry, Uzumaki Naruto. We'll meet again, I'm sure," thousands of blue butterflies stood in her place just in a mere seconds. And he made a pitiful attempt to catch some of it.

**With Kakashi**

He sighed for the twenty third time of the day. It bored him to no end, having to lie down and missing the beautiful day outside. He was supposed to be well enough to be discharged from the hospital, but Temari had ordered him to wait. For what reason, he had no particular idea. So he lay down on his bed, with the Akatsuki ring in his gloved right hand. One side of him felt relieved that whoever was his attacker did not take the ring away. He really don't want her anger to increase tenfold if she learned that he lost it. But come to think of it, who will attack people and then just leave him like that? What was their motive?

"Feeling better? Strong enough to walk? Now get out from bed and follow me," Temari did not wait for his respond before she spun around and walked out of the room. Kakashi quickly sprang to his feet and followed her. Silence fell between them as they desended a flight of stairs into a large room on the ground floor. She was deadly serious than the times he had seen her before.

"What actually happened, Temari?" he finally asked her as she was pushing the door open. "Multiple more attacks at the borders. We suspect it to be done by the same group of people who have attacked you. See for yourself," he stepped inside and she was behind him, closing the door. Kankurou and Gaara were already there, listening to Shikamaru's recount of what happened.

Out of all of them, Kiba and Akamaru appeared to be the worst. "And there is something you have to know. Akamaru was attacked with the same poison used to poison Kankurou not so long ago. The problem is, the antidotes that Sakura-san made did not work on dogs and our teams could not work out a way to do so, as we in Suna do not use dogs. To save him, Sakura-san would have to come down here," Temari explained seriously. "And fast. That poor beast has not much time left," Kankurou piped in and shook his head symphatically.

**With Tsunade**

It had been quite a time since she had sent Shikamaru and the others to the Suna borders, so there should be a report by now. But knowing Shikamaru, he will probably finish the report a month after they returned from the mission. Tsunade set down her pen and leaned back against her chair. However a gentle knocking on her window disturbed her peacefulness. A small Kestrel hawk stood at her window with a small roll of parchment in its beak.

She roughly grabbed it away and read it quickly. The contents completely shunned her drowsiness a few moments before. "Sakura!" the pinkette who fell asleep near her bookcase immediately jerked up at the sound of her thunderous voice. "Hai, Tsunade-shisou! What can I do for you?" she said tiredly, followed by a long yawn. "Race down to Suna at this moment. I'll sent this hawk back to the village and if I received the word that you arrived later than him, I will make sure your medic licence will be taken back, do you understand me?".

"Hai, as clear as crystal!".

"Good, now move!".

**end of chapter...**

Phew, this chapter is longer than any of the other chapters! But I do hope all of you would enjoy this chappie.

Please review :-)! Have a nice, sunny day!


	11. Stay out of Suna, Konan!

Hi again, everyone! Gomenasai for making all of you waiting for so long...and sorry for the sudden title change. I decided that "the Reason" sounded quite boring to some, so I decided to make it sound more interesting. Though "the Reason" fits the title of this story's prequel "That's why", don't you think so?

Now, is the school holidays and finally I will have time to update sooner than expected! So enough ranting let's move on, here is another chapter of The Reason..Hope you enjoy.

Happy reading..and reviewing..Have a good day, Minna-san!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just the story plot

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**Start of chapter**

The first light of the morning peeked through the leaves, waking her from her short sleep. The chirps of birds told her that the weather was fine, but she was not in the mood to enjoy all that. She really had to get going to Konoha, after so many delays in her journey. First, Kisame at Sasori's grave. Then Kakashi tried to stop her at the inn, followed by Yakushi Kabuto offering to take her unborn baby in return of Sasori's resurrection.

And last night, the Konoha team appeared in attempt to capture her. 'I wonder who will appear after this?' she asked sarcastically and hopped down the branch. As calm as ever she walked to a nearby stream and set down her belongings by a fallen log. After all the work outs she had, Konan thought she really deserved some nice refreshing bath. With ease, she shed off her cloak and training gear before diving into the cool water.

The feeling of ice cold water on her paper smooth skin was nice. Konan reached up and pull the hairpins that secured her paper flower accessory in her blue strands of hair. The curls fall from the bun and cascaded down her bare shoulders. She dove into the water for a few moments before emerged from underwater, breathing in the fresh air of the morning. It felt really good to relax that way once in a while. Sometimes she wondered if Pein had ever gone for a swim in the river before, or at least for a stroll down the stream.

'Probably not, he doesn't seem like the type to enjoy nature. Like Sasori did. Or…Kisame does,' she sighed and leaned against a rock when the thought hit her. She remembered how she and Sasori used to take a dip in the stream near the hideout, where Kisame loved to spend his time practicing his water jutsus. Wait, what was wrong with her? Konan pushed back the hair from her face and closed her eyes. Was this what it felt like to be really in love with someone? Having him in your mind every second and hearing his voice all the time? Thinking that you have gotten over him but actually you can never get rid of him?

She despised that feeling, hating but loving in the same time. It made her felt vulnerable but stronger in the same time. Her right hand went to her stomach that was carrying a soon to be her child. Everything came pounded on her without stopping. From the moment she received the news that she was carrying Pein's child to the death of Sasori and now Kabuto's offer to take the baby.

Konan had always thought she was a strong, independent woman that could stand on her own feet. That thought made her left the security of hideout and went to avenge Sasori. But today, it was proved that she wasn't as strong as she thought. She was like a fragile porcelain doll, one slip and it all broke.

She was so deep in thought that she didn't realized the presence of two shinobis just behind the bushes by the river banks. They inched closer, and by the time she spun around, it was too late.

**With Kakashi and the Konoha Team**

Shikamaru complaint loudly after finished recounting what happened for the third time. First to Temari, Kankurou and Gaara, the second time to the Suna border patrols and the third time to Hatake Kakashi, who was playing with a ring with purple stone much to his dismay.

"A female Akatsuki? Then, I don't think it was the same person that attacked all of us," this piece of news captured the attention of everyone in the room. However, Gaara's gaze was the most disturbing compared to the others combined together. It was as though he was trying to tell him something.

"Why did you say so, Kakashi-san?" Temari asked feeling unsatisfied. "Because you said the kunoichi who attacked you acted alone. I don't think whoever attacked me worked alone," he answered simply. Temari huffed lightly and began walking towards the door. "I'm going to include that in the report," she said firmly before slamming the door shut.

"Poor Temari. She was really into catching the perpetrator of these attacks," Kankurou shook his head sadly and followed her. "I'll go to check on the messengers to see if Nakamaru had came back," he chirped before closing the door. Gaara sent both his sibling with a mere glance before turning back to the Konoha ninjas. "Kakashi, I want to have a word with you," he finally said and stepped out of the room with Kakashi following. "Let's go to my office. More privacy than prying eyes," Kakashi raised a visible eyebrow.

Soon enough, he understood what Gaara meant. As they walked down the streets, he could see practically every single girl at least took a glance at the young Kazekage.

"You don't stand a chance, Yumi,".

"He looked at me, I'm positive about it,".

"No way, she liked girls with tattoos, I think,".

"Do you reckon he's gay?"

"Don't think so. Matsuri said she had a picture of a girl in his pocket,".

"Who is that lucky girl? I'm so envious,".

"Probably his sister,".

"I am so going to send him a Valentine's Day card,".

He had to try real hard to suppress his laughter as such whispers reached their hearing. Gaara as usual showed no emotions, though he went slightly red in the ears. Didn't these girls know that shinobis have heightened senses? 'Hope not one of them will end up with Gaara. That wouldn't be pretty,' the Copy-Cat Ninja thought to himself and smirked.

They reached Gaara's office in five minutes. Gaara immediately took his place and Kakashi sat opposite him. The red-headed handed him a drawing of a young woman with long curls of hair. Kakashi understood and thoroughly studied the picture. She was very beautiful, but appeared deadly in the same time. But what captivated the most were her eyes. They were icy cold, which pierced into his soul even though it was just a drawing.

Kakashi knew the woman in the drawing, even though not by name. "Er, Wazana Miwako. I don't know her real name. She is-". "The only kunoichi in the Akatsuki, often moving out with the Leader. I know. Her name is Konan, and originated from Amegakure," Gaara cut him off seriously. "Konan, of Akatsuki," Kakashi repeated more to his hearing only.

"If she attacked the Konoha ninjas, so that meant she is not far. I am going to need your help," he leaned in closer on his desk. Sudden silence dropped between them. "As in a mission?" Kakashi finally responded after a full minute of staring. The Kazekage nodded once and took a scroll out from his drawers.

"Please find Konan, and warn her to not come any closer to the Suna borders. The thing she was looking for is not here. I'm afraid she might get herself killed if our border patrol came across her. Even if she is a very powerful shinobi, I'm afraid something might hold her back. Give this to her and she will understand," Kakashi accepted the old looking scroll and kept it inside his vest jacket.

"Thank you for your cooperation," his emotionless voice for once sounded a little grateful. "Oh, and Kakashi," the jounin spun around. Gaara was looking at the floor, but apparently struggling to say something. "I know you're going to drop in at the hospital before you leave. Can you please…tell… Hyuuga Hinata that everything is going to be alright?" he mumbled the last part incoherently. "I beg your pardon?" Kakashi asked casually, even though he heard what the young man had spoken earlier.

"Please tell Hyuuga Hinata that I promised her that everything is going to be alright," Gaara seemed to be more confident this time, though a microscopic blush appeared on his pale skin. The older man smirked knowingly and pulled out his favourite orange book, now with a large hole in the middle courtesy of Konan's kunai some nights ago. "Don't worry, Kazekage-sama. I will," he formed several hand seals and quickly teleported to the hospital. Walking under Suna's hot climate did not do him any good.

**With Pein and the other Akatsuki**

Walls, walls, walls and more walls surrounded him in his room. Truth to be told, he felt really depressed to see the same thing every single day. But at least, he used to have Konan by his side to keep him entertained. Pein set down his pen and began tidying his paper works. He slowly rubbed his temples and leaned back in his chair.

It had been almost a week since Konan left the hideout, and yesterday was the first time he went on mission alone. And it really made him felt as if he had lost Konan forever, of which he might be. Zetsu's report just now disturbed him a little bit.

Orochimaru had begun moving on to complete his goal of mastering every jutsus known to mankind. This included Kekkei Genkais, like his Rinnegan eyes. The eyes that he could possibly passed down to his child that was residing in her womb right now. "Leader-sama?" he spun around to face the doorway. Deidara was standing over there, holding a scroll of parchment in his hand.

"Tobi and I had finished our mission. Our target was demolished so our pathway to the Bijuu is clear now," the blond reported with such formality all the while setting down the scroll on his desk. "You look pale today, Leader-sama. Is it about Konan?" he was one bold fellow to ask such question to Pein. But Pein was not in the mood for any killings today so he just nodded once and reached out for the scroll.

"You really love her, didn't you Leader-sama? I mean more than how all of us love her. Love as in undying love?" Pein raised an eyebrow. "And your point is?". "You should act fast and tell her how you felt. She loved Sasori deeply; Kisame had told her his feelings towards her and willing to wait for her, but I don't know about Itachi-san, though," Pein thought he had heard it wrong. "Wait, wait, what? How did Itachi come into the picture? He is barely old enough to vote! He will not stand a chance in winning her love!" his fist automatically slammed onto the table.

"How should I know, love is blind. Besides, he is older than me," Deidara stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You may go now," Pein put and end to their conversation. Deidara obliged to this and got up to leave. "Thank you," his head turned back in surprise. A second later, it cracked into a grin. "Heh, no problem!".

**With Konan**

"Kisame, Itachi, what the hell are you two doing here!" Konan practically screamed at their ears. "No, we don't mean anything. We don't know you're-" Kisame was unable to finish his sentence as she get into stance and punch him hard that he flew six metres in the air. She turned and kicked Itachi in the face, but the Uchiha coolly stop her with his hand. He flew back several metres, though he landed on his feet. A whole lot better than Kisame who landed on his back some distance away.

Konan glared daggers at the two shinobis, still drenching wet from the stream. "Konan, calm down. Put on your clothes first, at least," she looked down at herself. Her paper butterflies had formed some sort of dress around her, shielding her body from view. But her bare shoulders were showing, and he could see droplets of water sliding down her skin from her knees to the ground.

She dressed up quickly, but abandoned her cloak on the ground. Itachi stepped closer and handed her some bread. The kunoichi accepted it gratefully, since it had been days since her last decent meal. "You look starving. It wouldn't do any good to your child," as calm as ever, he spoke to her like a doctor would to his patient. Her eyes darted to his features, clearly asking how he knew that she was pregnant.

"You look just like when my mother was pregnant with Sasuke," Kisame and Konan looked at each other. Itachi sounded a bit dreamy, but still maintained his calm posture. "Fine, yes, I haven't eaten properly lately. Why are you two here? Don't you have some mission to get yourselves busy?".

"We are in our mission. The mission scroll said bring Konan of the Akatsuki back to the hideout," Kisame scratched the back of his neck guiltily. She glared daggers at his direction before turning her glare at the young Uchiha. "I refuse to, you can break every single bone in my body and still I would refuse to return until my goal is accomplished," firmly she told them her decision. As soon as she said this, her body disappeared along with the wind in the form of shards of paper.

Kisame made a futile attempt to catch it, meanwhile Itachi just merely shut his eyes, leaning against a large rock by the banks. "Let her be, Kisame. She is a shinobi of great ability, capable of defending herself. It wouldn't be too long until she finished her goal,".

"Then, what should we do now?" the shark like man slumped down next to his partner. "Wait and see, I guess. We just back her up if something goes wrong," Itachi was enjoying himself thoroughly. "But how are we going to find-. Oh, I get it. The flower!" the Uchiha nodded, before drifting into a light sleep.

**end of chapter**

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I kind of ran out of idea for this chapter, but I promise I will work harder on the next chapter. Please Review!

Thank you very much I bid to all of you!


	12. Kunoichis Showdown!

Hi again, minna-san! I'm back with the newest chapter of The Reason to love an avenger! I felt better with this chapter, and I hope all of you too will love this chapter.

Konan had finally encountered Sakura, and a battle broke out!

Well, what are you waiting for, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, though I really wish I do.

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**With Gaara**

He knew that at this time of night, he was supposed to be asleep. He didn't have to worry again since now the Shukaku was extracted from his body and he can sleep at peace. But he still can't force his eyes closed. Not with the current situation, when the Sand Village's safety was at stake. The Kazekage threw away his blanket and stepped slowly to the window. Suna's strong wind blew to his face, making his red hair danced slightly in the wind and in a matter of seconds his whole body transformed into grains of sand blown away to the direction of the hospital.

As he arrived at one of the windows, the grains of sands accumulated and reformed. His jade coloured eyes searched for a certain Konoha shinobi. A small smile crept to his dry lips as he spotted her lying in a bed by the window. With great ease, he stepped inside in silence. Even so, she was revealed to be a real light sleeper as her lavender eyes shot open as he sat on the chair next to the bed.

"Ka...kazekage-sama..," she stuttered though it was more because of pain rather than shyness as usual. She tried to sit up holding her stomach as doing so. Gaara looked in alarm and gently pushed her down back to the bed. Hinata closed her eyes and sighed slightly. "Forgive me for troubling you…Kazekage-sama," her voice sounded rather weak. "Gaara," he demanded, his eyes fixed on her face.

"Ah yes, Gaara-sama. I forgot," she laughed quietly before reopening her eyes. "Everything is going to be fine," he repeated the message he passed through Kakashi. "Yeah, I got that message. So, how are you handling things around?" he shifted his gaze to the full moon outside.

"The one who attacked all of you is Konan. I can't bring myself to hunt her down myself. So I sent Kakashi to take care of her," he answered without once looking at her. "Why?" that one word was enough to tell him all her curiosities. That Konan was part of the Akatsuki, the organization that had killed him, but why did he can't bring himself to finish her off?

"She and I had a lot of commons. I understand her feelings, and why she did all that. She was born to be a tool, and so do I. But now I have found a new purpose of living: protecting the village. And she found hers," Hinata drew a sharp breath as he turned to face her, his eyes bore into hers. He was actually building up courage to speak more. After a few moments, she smiled at him encouraging him to continue.

"She and I lived for years without love, and when we thought we had found one, it turned out to be a mere pretend. I hated it. But unlike me, Konan still can braved up herself to give out love to someone else. She had never stopped loving though it had disappointed her several times. And I at the very least, would let her leave the village untouched as a sign of respect for her inner strength," his words were deep but she understood every word of it.

_Flashback_

Gaara was severely weakened by Deidara's explosion. They dumped him in a cell while waiting for preparations to be made to extract the Shukaku. He can barely move a limb, but he was still awake. 'I wonder if I fell asleep now, would I turn into the Shukaku? Will I be strong enough to break out?' the thoughts lingered in his mind.

"Whatever you're thinking right now, don't do it. I'll beat the crap out of you," a cold voice rang through the underground cell. But it was a feminine voice, though it sounded deadlier than Temari's and even Tsunade's. When both Temari and Tsunade's voices were harsh and rough, this voice was icy cold and sent shivers down his spine.

A second later she appeared from between the dark walls, carrying a tray of food. Standing at almost 170 centimetres tall, she was quite tall for a woman. Her long, curly azure blue hair trailed down her back and her icy cold eyes stunned him completely. The first time he saw her, she was wearing her hair in bun, hidden underneath her flower hair clip.

"Eat up, Kazekage-sama," she said mockingly and entered the cell. She was even bold enough to lock herself alone with him in the cell. "What are you trying to play at?" he glared angrily at her. Konan set down the tray in front of him and knelt down next to him. To his surprise, she gently helped him up from the floor and sat him leaning against the cold wall.

"Poor soul," he heard her faint whisper as she took off his heavy clothing and set them aside. "Why are you doing this?" he asked her sharply as she pulled the tray closer to both of them. She ignored him at first but smirked slightly when he slapped away her hand that was holding a glass of water.

"You will be meeting Shinigami soon. Surely you want to at least full with food, because you will never have any of these there!" her answer was simple but meaningful. He glared at her again, still unsatisfied by the answer. "And also, this is my way of saying sorry to your siblings, for causing them to lose a precious person. At least I can tell them that their brother died feeling full and happy," if it wasn't for the pain he was feeling, he would have rolling in the floor laughing his heads off (figuratively, of course. I can't imagine Gaara would be rolling on the floor!).

"Konan, that's plain stupid. No one died happy, un!" they both spun around to see Deidara was standing at the cell door, one of his hands in his pocket. He was not wearing his Akatsuki cloak for once, but just a short sleeved shirt with fishnet underneath.

Konan stood up and walked to the door. Before closing it back, she look back at Gaara and sighed ever so lightly. "I'll be back, Kazekage-sama," and with that, both her and Deidara vanished between the large rocks, leaving him alone to his thoughts again.

_End of flashback_

Gaara frowned when he reflected on the memory when he first met Konan. Hinata nodded her head meekly and smiled again. "I'm sure you did the best thing there is for the sake of your people," her words sent comfort to his soul. Finally, he decided that it was time to leave. "Gaara-sama, Arigatou," she said quietly, her face had turned really red.

He nodded and walked to the window. "Oh and, I wouldn't be here tomorrow night," she called out to him. He glanced at her, waiting for her to continue. "We will be discharged tomorrow," he smirked and vanished with the wind. Hinata stared at the spot he was standing just now. Truth to be told, she found comfort in the young Kazekage.

**With Konan**

She could sense it; it was nearing to where she stood right now. Konan jumped down and began forming hand seals. It was a rather long one, meaning it was a complicated jutsu. As soon as she finished the hand seals with a Tiger seal, immediately the earth around her area was raised in level, creating a small valley within 100m radius of her self. "Earth Release: Valley of Death, successful," she said to no one in particular. Now all she had to do was wait, until Haruno Sakura came across the spot.

As soon as she detected the Hokage's apprentice chakra signature nearing, Konan leapt to the middle of her created battlefield, eagerly waiting for her opponent. She had on her Akatsuki cloak and the straw hat, shielding her face from view. How Haruno Sakura would be surprised by her presence, Konan thought to herself, eyes scouting through the forest.

**With Kakashi**

The loud sound of rumbling disturbed him. Could it be Konan? He changed his direction and sped full speed to where he saw a small line of hills appeared out of nowhere. 'That chakra signature, felt like Miwako's!' 'Konan. Not Miwako, her name is Konan,' another side of him corrected.

He stopped between some thick branches, his eye carefully taking in the situation in front of him. Konan was standing in the middle of newly made large area, apparently waiting for someone. But who could it be? Kakashi touched the scroll inside his vest pocket. "Wait, this chakra signature! This is bad!" by the time realization struck him, Sakura had already stepped into Konan's territory; with the Akatsuki kunoichi was eager to finish her off.

**With Konan and Sakura**

Sakura jumped down and looked around. She never remembered there was such area in the route to Suna. "Ah, the bird. Wait for me," she was about to continue racing the bird when a figure that stood in the middle of the area caught her attention. "Akatsuki!" she froze immediately in her position. "Leaving already Cherry Blossom? Aw, I want to play more," the figure mocked her in a creepy way.

Sakura looked right and left. 'They move in pairs. Where is his partner?' Konan pushed back her hat a bit and stepped forward. "You don't have to find anyone else. Your opponent is me!" the pink-haired girl looked at her in alarm. Fear built up in her as the Akatsuki stepped closer to her.

Konan finally threw her hat away to some distance, letting Sakura to see her face. The hat turned into paper butterflies, encircling Konan. Sakura's emerald green eyes widened in shock as she saw that the Akatsuki member's beautiful face. She had never thought that the Akatsuki had a female member. But the young woman in front of her was not much different from the other Akatsukis. She easily sent shivers down Sakura's spine just by staring her down.

Sakura felt vulnerable with no trees to hide behind, and the Akatsuki was nearing her. She took off her Akatsuki cloak and that too turned into butterflies. Konan flicked her arm and all the butterflies flew away from her. Remembering Tsunade's advice, Sakura begin studying the kunoichi in front of her. She was wearing normal training gear instead of colourful attires like she had seen most kunoichis wore. 'This is no normal kunoichi,' she reminded herself.

The Akatsuki member had on a three quarter sleeved dark blue shirt with a long sleeved fishnet underneath it. Her dark blue sweat pants stopped someway below her knees, with her combat boots went all the way up to her knees. Her shuriken holster was strapped around her thigh, her kunai pouch hung loosely around her waist. Her elegant fingers expertly pulled her long curly hair into a bun and secured it with a flower made from paper. She was far from fashionable, but she was stunning.

"What do you want from me, Akatsuki?" Sakura shouted at her, trying to look brave.

"Nothing much. Just a little taste of your sweet blood would be nice," Konan pulled out fingerless gloves and put them on.

"What is wrong with you? What are you guys planning?".

"You're afraid, Sakura?" Konan practically spat at her name.

"Hell no! As if I would be afraid to someone like you!" Konan narrowed her eyes.

"Really, girl? You don't have Chiyo like last time. You're alone in this,".

"I'm never alone! You'll see, my comrades will arrive and together we'll bring you down!". Sakura smirked in victory. Konan was suspicious. She turned around, and saw that a messenger bird was flying straight towards Suna. Sakura had sent for back up without her noticing!

"Fine then. I'll finish you before they arrive," Konan pulled out a kunai and get into stance. She will go easy on Sakura first. Considering the Konoha kunoichi was a taijutsu user, she'll begin with taijutsu.

Sakura followed her suit, pulling on her gloves. As soon as she finished, Konan wasted no time and threw the kunai sharply at her. She had no time to dodge the attack; the kunai flew just an inch from her ear.

Konan smirked seeing her shock and jumped back, pulling the chakra string she applied on the kunai. 'She's fast,' Sakura thought, her eyes widened slightly. "What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" Konan teased her, her hand on her hip while her other hand was playing with the chakra string. 'Don't tell me she's a puppet user also, like Akasuna no Sasori,' Sakura pushed back her hair and get ready once again.

"This move seems familiar to you?" Konan called out to her with a satisfied smile. Sakura charged, powering her fist with chakra. "Now this is more like it," Konan said to herself and didn't budge from the spot. Just when Sakura's punch was inches before contact, she disappeared suddenly and reappeared behind Sakura. Konan delivered a back kick at Sakura's spine.

The younger of the two was thrown on the ground. Konan knelt down next to her and grasped a handful of her pink hair. "Tell me Sakura, is this how you killed Sasori?" she drew out a kunai from her sleeve. Sakura eyed the kunai before looking into Konan's features. "No, a whole lot different!" she flipped her body and kicked Konan in the back. Konan flew back and fell to the ground, but she twisted her body and dug the kunai into the ground to stop from flying back from the impact of Sakura's kick. She stood back straight and put a hand on her back, silently healing it. "Well, this will make this interesting; don't you think so, Sakura-chan?" Konan let out a few more fast flying kunais with chakra strings. It was a good thing Sasori used to teach her how to manipulate chakra strings, though she was not advanced enough to use it on puppets. 'Sasori, Pein, Kisame, Itachi, Deidara, Hidan, Kakuzu, Zetsu, Tobi, watch me!' she thought to herself, as she charged forward powering her feet with chakra.

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Well, we have to wait for the next chapter, I guess! Until then, please review..Oh and by the way, I'm thinking of writing a oneshot and I'm thinking of a pairing. Any ideas, anyone?

Thank you for reading my story, and double thank you if you reviewed, especially **Cute23Flower** and **Happyhappy**!


	13. Fallen Angels

Hi, everyone. I was in such a good mood that I decided to update sooner than expected! This chapter contained mainly fights and bloods so, You have been warned!

I was just trying my hand on writing battles, because I love to see the shinobis fight, especially if they are using taijutsu!

Enough babbling, let's head out to chapter 13!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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'Sasori, Pein, Kisame, Itachi, Deidara, Hidan, Kakuzu, Zetsu, Tobi, watch me!' Pein looked up when he heard her voice faintly. After spending years together, he and Konan had developed some sort of bond between them. Pein got up from his bed and walked to his work desk. His hand reached for a golden frame on top of the desk and brought it closer to his Rinnegan eyes.

It was the picture of him and Konan at the top of his residential tower in Amegakure. She actually smiled sweetly in the picture, while he just maintained his calm demeanour. Taking photos was not his cup of tea, but it was her idea all along. And that idea also resulted in another picture they took with the rest of the Akatsuki member. Apart from that, Pein knew she kept the picture of every two man teams in their organization in her room.

"Konan, please be safe," he put down the frame and closed his eyes.

**With Konan**

'Konan, please be safe,' she heard Pein's whisper in the coming wind. She gained her confidence and launched a punch at Sakura. Their fists met and both were driven back. But Konan smiled in delight. Sakura was puzzled by her gesture, but then realized something. The kunais! She was too late when the kunais flew by and grazed her skin. One of them even sliced open her right arm.

Konan tugged on the strings again, and the kunais soared towards her. Sakura jumped out of the way this time, all in the while healing the wound on her arm. 'This shinobi is someone I must be really careful. She always had a trick up her sleeves,' Sakura thought, trying to predict her opponent's movement. She had to find her weakness and quick.

"Tell me Sakura. How did Sasori died?" she gasped inaudibly when she felt Konan's icy fingers on her neck, kunai grazing her skin. "His death was a payment for his sins!" Konan gritted her teeth and slashed Sakura's shoulder. "Wrong answer!" she snarled and kicked the girl hard. She stood firm in the place, waiting for Sakura to get up.

"Why are you doing this? I'm not a Jinchuuriki. What do you want from me?" Sakura gathered herself and got up.

"Let's just say, I have been waiting for this for quite a long time," Konan held up one of the kunais and dipped her finger in Sakura's blood. She kept away that particular kunai, for another technique later on. Hopefully she wouldn't have to use that technique just to face Sakura.

"Yes, but why?" Sakura threw a handful of kunais at her.

"To satisfy myself. Don't get it wrong though," Konan jumped back. Her eyes then spotted an explosive tag among the kunais. "Great," the tag went off, and Konan was blinded by the thick smokes.

In the middle of the commotion, she heard Sakura was coming at her in full speed.

Konan put her arms in front of her and blocked Sakura's chakra powered punch by forcing chakra to her arms. Sakura then attacked her with numerous punches and kicks, which she easily dodged. Sometimes, training with the Akatsuki members did have benefits. They were unexceptionally fast attackers, even Hidan himself. Plus, she had undergone too many battles while on missions that she can easily read the pink haired medic ninja's movements. "Eat this!" finally Sakura successfully landed a blow on her chest. Konan hissed and quickly clutched her wrist and kneed her in the chest. Both jumped away, holding their hurting chests. From the corner of her eyes, Konan saw that Sakura pulled out a kunai with another explosion tag attached and threw it at her direction. Konan let the kunai fall in front of her, her hands fast forming hand seals. The explosion tag went off, and again the area was surrounded in smokes.

Sakura looked around her. "Did it get her?" she said to herself, trying to be calm.

She shrieked when a hand came out from the earth and pulled her down hard, that she was buried in the ground waist down. Konan jumped out from the ground and swept her right feet. Sakura blocked it and she twisted and punched Sakura's injured shoulder.

Konan was about to deliver a chakra enforced kick to finish the Konoha ninja when a fast moving blur pulled Sakura out of the way. The Akatsuki's foot met contact with the earth and a large crater was formed on the ground. Konan jumped away from the collapsing rocks can crush her.

Some distance away, Sakura was holding her injured shoulder while being supported by someone. Konan's icy eyes widened slightly before she narrowed it in anger. "You!" she glared him hard. "I'd tell you before. We'll meet again, though I was intending it to be just the two of us," he replied as cool as ever, which just irritated her more.

"Stay out of this, Hatake! This fight is between me and her!" Konan pointed a finger at an exhausted looking Sakura. Kakashi stepped forward between both of the kunoichis. "I will not let someone like you harm my comrades!" he said sternly, clenching his fists. Konan tightened her clasp around her kunai. "And I will not let someone like her goes free after she killed one of my comrades!" Konan moved quickly to his back and straight for Sakura who was alerted by her actions.

"No, you're not, Miwako!" he formed some hand seals and a large flow of water sprang out from the ground in front of Sakura. Konan changed course and went for him instead, but he was ready for her attacks. Kunais clashed and both of them jumped away, Konan was panting lightly. Now with the infamous Copy-Cat Ninja interfering in the battle, her chance to kill Haruno Sakura had grown thinner.

Konan did some seals in a fast speed, difficult for Sakura or Kakashi to see. A large crater suddenly formed around the spot Sakura was standing. "Earth Release: Crater Trap attack!" the crater suddenly closed itself with Sakura inside it. A second later, Sakura punched her way out, covered with slimy substance. Kakashi looked at Konan in mild shock. 'When did she use the jutsu? I never thought I would have to use this, but…,' he pulled up his hitai-ate, revealing his Sharingan.

"Finally, your true strength. That means I don't have to hold back, am I?" Konan held up a hand, and paper butterflies gathered in her palm, forming a blue coloured scroll with Konoha's symbol on it. It was the scroll she took after defeating the Konoha Team that day. To her expectation, it did contained useful information.

"Recognize this, Hatake?" both his eyes were focused on the Konoha symbol.

"How did you obtain that?" she smirked and threw it to his feet.

"I took it from one of your comrades. I've learned many things from it, alright," she leapt into the air and began forming some more seals. Kakashi began copying it with his Sharingan. "Too slow!" she called out to him and her genjutsu attack hit Sakura.

"Let's see if you can wriggle out of this," Konan said, more to her ears only.

"That was a good move, Konan-chan," she was startled by a silver haired young man who suddenly appeared behind her. She jumped again, away from both Kakashi and the silver haired young man. "Yakushi Kabuto!" Konan breathed out the name with anger.

"Good to see you still remember me, Konan-chan. I came just as I promised. So how's the deal?" he was clearly a straight forward man.

"Will you shut about the deal? Can't you see I'm busy right here?" she blocked a punch from Kakashi and flipped over him. "Get lost, Kabuto and tell your master I'm not interested in involving with his world domination project," she dodged a series of punches from Kakashi and swept his feet.

"Your Leader is also interested in world domination," Kabuto was also very persistent. That one she had learned from the previous two encounters.

"You don't know a single thing about Pein so just shut up!" she threw her kunais at both Kakashi and Kabuto, landing at a safe distance somewhere ahead.

Her eyes travelled to Sakura who was clearly trapped in her genjutsu, unable to release it so easily. She disappeared from her spot and reappeared next to Sakura, brandishing a kunai. Konan was about to stab the kunai through her heart, when suddenly she felt a pain in her stomach. She lost her aim and stabbed Sakura in the abdomen instead. That awakened her from the genjutsu.

Konan bent over in pain. 'What is happening? I felt numb,' she thought as she went down to her knees, the pain was unbearable. Kakashi who raced to Sakura's side looked at Konan in confusion. One minute she was all agile and quick and now she was hardly able to move.

"Damn you, Kabuto! What did you do?" Konan was now on all fours, his hands clawing the grounds out of pain. Kabuto calmly pushed his spectacles up the bridge of his nose and stepped closer to her. In his hand was a chunk of her hair, with his chakra around them. "Just letting you know, Konan-chan. I always get what I want. Including this baby!" he grasped the hair harder, making her shaking uncontrollably.

"It seems that I have to use force," he chuckled lowly and took out a glass container. "By now surely that lovely baby of yours had formed, right? That will make my work easier," He was now by her side, doing a certain hand seal that she recognized quickly as a medic ninja. "No, Kabuto! Please don't," he smiled sadistically and put his hand over her hurting stomach. "I love hearing you beg. But sorry Konan-chan, I really need your baby. Pein's baby to be exact," he whispered in her ear.

Konan tried to push him away, but the pain shot through her body again. "Please don't, Kabuto," her voice was hoarse as she clawed the ground again. Konan felt her energy became gradually losing. "Kisame, Pein, anyone, please stop him," she whispered as her hands grew weak, she fell limp on the ground.

**With Pein **

'Kisame, Pein, anyone, please stop him,' Pein shot up from his light slumber after hearing Konan's faint whispers again. He jumped out and dashed to his desk, gathering up his things. Accidentally, he pushed the golden frame off the table and it was smashed into pieces.

Pein didn't was more time, he put on his cloak and at his top speed raced down to the direction he had been hearing her whisper. His angel needed him right now, and he wouldn't afford to lose her any time sooner. "Konan, hang on!" he tried to increase his speed.

**With Konan**

Konan closed her eyes, trying to keep holding on. The pain stopped when she heard someone hit Kabuto hard in the face. She felt grateful for the move, and tried to stand up. Her feet were shaking but she mustered up herself. 'I'm not a shinobi for nothing!' she said over and over again.

When she had succeeded standing, her feet were shaking violently. Though she had no visible injuries, but Konan knew she had a lot of internal injuries from Kabuto's jutsu just now. She tried to step ahead, but her body was in her original position. She then spotted her shadow, connected to a long thin shadow that attached to the shadow of one of the Konoha ninjas she fought before.

"Pein, I'm sorry," It wasn't too long before she passed out, still standing.

**With Pein**

'Pein, I'm sorry,' that voice rang again through the trees. He went frantic. 'Don't tell me she's finished for,' he never once stopped in his running. Time passed as he began to draw nearer to the place he felt that Konan was in. His bond with Konan was strong that he sensed that she was somewhere near the border of Fire country.

Hours later, he arrived in a large ground covered area, with signs of battle ongoing on it. Unsurprisingly, Itachi and Kisame were already there, both with unreadable expressions. Pein approached them and Itachi was the first to answer. "A battle broke out between her with Haruno Sakura and Hatake Kakashi. And then, Yakushi Kabuto came and attacked her," Pein spotted a pool of blood near the three of them.

He knelt down near the blood and dipped her finger in the blood. "It's her blood. This is Konan's blood," Pein turned to face Itachi and Kisame. The Uchiha sighed heavily and looked away from his leader. "Kabuto tried to force the baby out of her. And he was successful with it," Kisame handed the Leader a small thing wrapped up in Itachi's cloak.

Pein was plainly shocked by the news and accepted the thing with shaking hands. His child did not make it. And now he was on the verge of losing his angel. "Why did you let them go? Where is she?" he growled, trying to cope up with the swirl of emotions building up in him. Kisame was clearly unable to speak; he appeared to be distracted by the whole event. "It is better for her to be taken back to Konoha, they have better medical facilities and they have Tsunade, the best medic ninja ever was. Furthermore, Konoha is closer and Konan was dying from blood loss. We had to let her go," Itachi said calmly. Pein looked at his child and turned around towards their hideout. "Your mission ended here Kisame, Itachi. For a while, let's go home," the sharingan wielder and the former Mist Ninja followed without objections.

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Well, how is it? Please let me know so that I can do better for the next chapters. Thank you very much to all of you!

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	14. What kind of mission is this?

Hi there everyone! I had been in such a happy mood that I decided to update another chapter of this story, and currently working on a one-shot. Hope you enjoy this one!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto...If I did, I would be amazingly, fantastically rich by now..

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**With Pein**

He was in despair. In his trembling hands was whatever remained of his baby. And the fate of the mother of his child was still unknown. Itachi looked at Pein's unreadable expression. Then he switched his gaze to his partner, who was still had not spoken a word. On other times, the shark-like man would do all the talking.

It seemed like Itachi was the only one who can control his emotions well at the time. Pein walked ahead of the two, trying to hide the hot tears that were threatening to fall from his powerful eyes. Without his Angel, Pein was just a normal human being. And humans cry, just like he was doing at the moment. His chakra reacted to his feelings, and thick droplets of rain began to fall from the dark sky.

He put Itachi's blood soaked clothes that enveloped his dead child inside of his cloak, protecting it from the rain. Kisame looked up and felt the water droplets against his skin. Realizing Itachi was beginning to drenching wet; Kisame took of his cloak and handed it to Itachi. His partner accepted it with quick thanks and put it on. Since Kisame was obviously taller than him, the cloak went lower than his usual cloak. Kisame had no trouble walking in the rain, for he was a bit…different from the other two shinobis.

**With the Konoha Team**

"Does it hurt again, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked with pure concern in his voice. Kiba noticed this and glanced at his female teammate. To his surprise, Hinata didn't show any sign of jealousy on her beautiful face. Sakura shook her head and smiled to assure him that she was alright. They were walking on a slower pace since they were still recovering from injuries Konan inflicted upon them.

Meanwhile, Kakashi had rushed to Konoha with the Akatsuki member as she was dying from blood loss, a result from her forced abortion. Sakura was unable to heal her anymore due to low on chakra, so the only resort was to get her to Konoha as fast as they can. Once she was well enough, she would be taken to the Interrogation Unit to extract information on the organization's movement.

Deep down, Sakura saluted her for her ability to involve in a battle while pregnant, and quite a tough opponent even though the baby was supposed to be restricting her movement. If it weren't for Kabuto's jutsu, Sakura knew she would die at Konan's hands. "So, you got into a fight with the Akatsuki member, all by yourself?" Tenten who was bored throughout the journey struck a conversation.

"Yeah, I guess. And Kakashi-sensei said that her name is Konan," she looked at the scroll Konan threw at his feet earlier.

"Naruto, I think this belongs to you," she handed it to her teammate. He accepted it gratefully and quickly kept it inside his pocket.

"It was lucky that Kabuto interfered the fight, isn't it?" Tenten continued their flow of conversation.

"But, Konan is a really strong female ninja. She is second on my idol's list after Tsunade-sama!" announced the bun-haired girl excitedly. Seven pair of eyes looked at her awkwardly.

"Sakura, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Akamaru, stop looking at me like I had sprouted a second head," Tenten had gone as far as twirling her kunais to emphasize her point. They all resumed to do their own activities.

"Hey, Kiba. It was lucky the Suna medical team managed to whip up some antidotes for Akamaru before waiting for Sakura-chan, ne?" Naruto patted Akamaru on its head. Kiba grunted in response and looked away.

"I owe Kankurou one. He was the one who came up with the idea to add a plant, which I don't know its name into the pre-made antidote. And Hinata's Byakugan to precisely suck out all the poison out," he frowned slightly, unhappy with the fact that he was unable to save Akamaru's life on his own.

Naruto's jaw dropped in surprise. "What?" the young Inuzuka asked irritatedly. "Are you sure _Kankurou_ thought of that?". Kiba sighed heavily. "I know, Naruto,".

**With Kakashi and Konan**

Kakashi jumped his way through the trees, desperately trying to dodge the branches that were ih his way. The petite lady in his arms had begun stirring, her lips muttering something incoherent. 'Hang on, Konan,' he was finding it weird to care too much for a known enemy. She was an Akatsuki, and she tried to kill Sakura before.

"Pein, please forgive me. She didn't make it," his trained ears heard her weak whisper. "Shh..Konan, don't talk too much. You'll be fine, I promise you that," she was startled at first, but calmed down eventually. Konan felt too weak to even open her eyes. "Hatake?" she called to him weakly. He put his ears to her mouth, not once stop sprinting. "I'm not finished with you yet," her threat nearly sent him to a laughing fit. Was that all she was thinking even when her life was at stake?

"I know, Konan. I'm looking forward to a rematch myself," she tried her hardest to nod, but instead dozed off again.

**With the Akatsuki**

Pein entered the hideout, not caring the fact that his cloak was drenching wet. Deidara quickly sprang to his feet upon seeing his return, but he was stopped when his eye caught side of the bloody cloak. "Leader-sama, don't tell us that belonged to Konan, un," Hidan and Kakuzu looked up at the sound of his voice. Hidan for once couldn't find any word to curse, Kakuzu was just staring emptily at the bloody cloak. "No, this cloak is Itachi's. But the blood is hers," Pein answered dully and set it in the middle of their circle.

"As soon as the rain stopped, I'll bury our child by Sasori's grave," he announced to every one of them. "Our? Tobi did not understand what Leader-sama was saying," Tobi asked innocently. Deidara was not in the mood to raise his voice at the masked man, merely answered. "Konan and Leader-sama's child," Tobi understood well enough not to question more.

"I felt to sorry for your loss, Leader-sama," Kakuzu offered his condolence, followed by Zetsu and Deidara. Hidan exhaled roughly and stepped forward. "I had never done this before, but.." to everyone's shock, the immortal man hugged the leader and patted his back. "I felt sorry for what happened," Hidan then quickly let go of his Leader-sama. Pein thanked them and decided that it was just a waste of time if he kill Hidan for hugging him. I mean, no one touch Pein without his permission! But that was a special case.

**With Kakashi**

He had arrived at Konoha's Main Gate, carrying a bloody form of Konan of the Akatsuki. Without even stopping to greet Izumi and Kotetsu at the gate, he went straight for the Hospital, in the heart of the village. "Shizune-san!" he called out and she quickly motioned the emergency room, having been informed beforehand. "Kakashi-san, please wait outside," the woman pushed him out of the room, so he walked up to the chair provided and sat down. He patiently tapped his foot against the cool floor, until half an hour later Shizune came out of the room, with Tsunade behind her. "It is a good thing you are here, Kakashi. I was going to brief you about your newest mission, now that I seen you are well enough to get involved in battle with an Akatsuki," he grinned behind his mask and followed the Fifth Hokage down the long hall until they arrived at a secluded dpot.

"This is consider to be a great opportunity for Konoha to learn more about the Akatsuki. Now, this mission is a bit different from your other missions. Listen closely," he bent a bit to hear better. "This woman is having a serious heartbreak from her lost baby. Your mission now, charm her and gain her trust. Gradually, try to find out more about the Akatsuki. Can you do it, or can you not?" Kakashi's eye widened upon hearing his new mission. "If you refuse then I'll hand this mission to someone else, Gai maybe?" Okay, that was the limit. "I'll do it," he decided. "Are you sure? I'm sure Gai is free of any missions right now? He will sweep her to her feet, don't you think so," Kakashi don't want to think about it.

Tsunade smirked in victory before handing him a scroll. "Good luck, Don Juan," she flashed a mocking smile at him and vanished behind a corner. The Sharingan wielder stared at the mission scroll. Just when he thought he could avoid from thinking about her any more, this kind of mission came. Kami-sama, he really need help in this task.

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The room was completely empty except for him and the lying woman. But Kakashi knew that the innocent looking walls are actually chakra neutralizers. He stepped closer to the woman and took in her details. She looked so peaceful in her sleep, like an angel. Her blue hair was spread over the pillow, but still framed her angelic face. He noticed a cut near her right ear, a scar from the spot Kabuto cut off a chunk of her hair.

He sat on the chair, clueless on what to do. Tsunade had summoned him from his sleep and locked him in the room with her, _alone_. He considered of continue reading his Icha Icha Tactics, but decided against it when he spotted the fearsome Hokage was standing in front of the glass wall, motioning him to "make a move" on Konan. He was regretting of refusing to let this mission goes to Gai. At least he was willing to do anything to complete any missions assigned to him. But his attention was moved to her, when she began to stir a little. He looked at Tsunade, and looked back at Konan when the blonde began cracking her knuckles.

"Konan? Are you okay?" he asked her as her eyelids slowly fluttered open. "What the hell are you doing here?" Kakashi retreated a little. That was not entirely romantic, but at least she was not trying to paper cut him or something.

Okay, she just did. But Konan looked around her in alarm when her jutsus did not work. "This is a chakra neutralizer room. You would not be able to use them while in here," he explained, only to be met by her murderous glare. "At least I still have my arms! How did I end up here?" she was quick to jump off the bed and pushed him against the wall. Kakashi sighed for the fifth time of the morning. "You were injured. We brought you here. We saved your life, the end," he gently pried her hands from his collar. "For the time being, you will be needing a lot of rest, Konan. Especially now that your baby-" "My baby what?" she looked down at her stomach. "Argh! My baby, where is she?" she screamed frantically and began looking around the room, as if she dropped the baby somewhere. He slapped his forehead out of his carelessness. Now, he had to deal with a woman who was beginning to act like insane, searching for her baby under the mattress and bedside table.

Tsunade slapped her own forehead and began bumping her head against the wall. When she was finished, she sent him her deadliest glare and tapped her foot, her hands at her hips. This mission was going to be much harder than she thought.

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This is shorter than the last chapters, but I do hope all of you guys like it! Please review! Thank you and good day to all of you!


	15. His game

Good day, Minna-san? How are you guys doing? Ready for the latest chapter of The Reason: To Love an Avenger? Here we go, though I might tell you beforehand this chapter contained quite a lot of emotional moments. What to do, I just love mixing all types of genre in my fics! Though I don't know how it will turn out, hope it will be good.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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**With Konan and Kakashi**

Konan curled up on her bed, her knees pulled close to her chest. "Where is my baby? Did I leave her somewhere? No, last time I checked she's still inside of me," her eyes darted from left to right, as she rocked herself back and forth. Kakashi stood there dumbly, didn't know what to do. "You're sure you Konohans didn't take my baby away from me?" he bolted up straight at her sharp question.

"Of course not. Why would we take a child from her mother?" he answered nervously. "Especially if the mother is an S-rank criminal of the Akatsuki Organization," he mumbled under his breath. Luckily she ignored the remark and continued with her actions earlier. Rocking herself like a scared little girl.

It was at this moment he saw something in her that he had never seen before. Beads of cold sweats began forming on her pale forehead. Her eyes wandering of aimlessly, holding her legs close to her body as though protecting it from something. For the first time, he saw her vulnerability. He sensed her fear of her surrounding, and most of all he saw a glint of weakness in her normally cold eyes. Was that how much losing her baby had caused her? A totally different person?

Kakashi glanced at the glass window and beckoned for the people standing on the other side of it to go away. He knew she felt uncomfortable with people watching them like some sort of exhibition in a zoo. Tsunade gave him an approving nod, Shizune mouthed "Good Luck", and Izumo and Kotetsu flashed their mischievous grins.

When he was sure that there were no longer unwanted spectators, Kakashi stepped next to the bed and sat down. She moved closer to the corner, eyeing him suspiciously. If she had a kunai with her right now, she will surely have ripped him apart. But she had nothing. Konan was just, a plain woman who had lost a part of her self and was left with nothing.

"It hurts isn't it? The feeling when we lose someone dear," he stated, staring blankly at the white wall in front of him. "Like half of our soul was ripped away," he continued and lifted his masked face to look at her. Konan evaded his eye, looking at her painted fingernails instead.

"That's how you feel right? Who knows, maybe you don't feel anything over this matter, being a criminal and all,".

"Leave me alone," she was still not looking at his direction.

"Tsunade-sama locked me in here. It was not like I _want_ to be here. Face it Konan, you are stuck with me until she decided to let me out," he was definitely pulling the strings of the conversation.

"At least stay away from me," she retorted back, and buried her face into her knees. She really needed peace right now. And his presence was not helping at all.

"Look me in the eyes and say that you are sad over your baby," he challenged her. It sounded like a cruel thing to do to her, but Kakashi knew that was the fastest way to break through her tough shell.

Konan ignored him and tightened her hold on her knees, trying to suppress the swirls of emotions inside of her. 'Shinobi principle #25, shinobis do not show emotion. Remember your training, Konan,' she said to herself.

"So, it is proven then. You have not even the slightest regret over-"

"I'm tortured with my baby's death, happy? I lost her; I lost everything that I cared for! Those were the ones you wanted to hear, isn't it? You rather enjoyed hearing this S-rank criminal suffer, you found amusement in her despair! Haven't you done enough already?" she flared up at him, glaring him straight in the eye.

"Well, it is karma right? You make people suffer, you have to face the consequence later on," he had just poured oil on a burning fire.

"Oh right, criminals are bad! So right to let them suffer! Do you think I want to do all the things? Enjoying every moment my hands bathed in blood again? I don't want that, Hatake! Never! You hear me, never!" Konan apparently lost control of her self as she pulled him closer to her by the sweatshirt he was wearing.

"And listen to this, Hatake. I'm not willing to give up just yet," she pushed him roughly and pulled her knees back together.

Her actions were so much confusing and intimidating at the same time. One second she was afraid and vulnerable, the next moment she all riled up and spoke with such fierceness. Kakashi's brain began to work on what-to-do-next lists. "Why even bother trying, Konan? You have got nothing left. Your lover, your child, your freedom, your friends, they are all slowly getting further from your hands. You are alone, Konan. Your fight is over, and you're losing it," he knew that he was being so harsh and brutal with his words, but if it can put the hot-headed woman to submission, he will go on with it.

She covered her ears with her hands and sang out loudly, trying to block out his voice, though his sharp words had already sunken in her soul right now. 'He's right. I'm losing it,' she forced her inner thoughts to fight against it. She wanted nothing more than being away from him right now…

**With Pein**

The rain had stopped a couple of hours ago, and right now he was standing over the newly-made tombstone that marked his child's grave next to Sasori's. He had carved the words written on the tombstone by himself, though not as neat as Konan's calligraphy. He had written it down, his first and last wish for his child, who didn't make it.

_Here lies a Tenshi named Mikomi, whose life was short but brought happiness in our hearts. May rest in peace._

"Guess we'll never meet, huh?" he knelt down and clasped his hands together praying for his Tenshi. He was alone in the area, something he appreciated for the moment. It was not always, scratch that. He never had an emotional break down. He remembered the last time he cried was when his family died in the war back in Amegakure. But that was almost fourteen years ago. Even when Yahiko died, he did not shed a single tear but mourned for him silently instead.

"Something felt missing? Don't worry, Mikomi. When the time will come, I'll bring back your mother. And we will be whole again," he spoke quietly, and appeared to be talking to himself. Pein then stood up and left the graves behind, promised that he will drop by again the next day. In his mind, hundreds of plans to retrieve Konan began to be created.

**With Konan and Kakashi**

"It must be miserable being you. Captured, Isolated, lost, lonely, disappointed," he tried to pull her into his dangerous game.

Konan did not answer. His words pierced through her like anything had never before. Even being hit Hiruko's tail did not hurt this much. The words he used described her position well, a position where she can't escape or turn back to where she started. To make it simple, she was doomed.

"While in the time passing, why don't we introduce ourselves? To know each other better," he suggested but she was just staring at her nails, as if they were more interesting than he was. "Not interested," she muttered. "What is wrong with you? When I talk to you harshly you accused me of not understanding. When I try to be nice, you completely ignore me. What is your problem, woman?".

"My problem is that I am stuck in a room where I can't use my chakra when I need it the most to kill the most annoying person ever walked on this earth! I don't know what I did to you that made you hate me so much that you have the nerve to-" by this point, tears had brimmed to her eyes. "To what actually?" he dared her, his own emotions swirling. "To take my baby away from me!" she spat angrily.

Kakashi stared her down in anger. "Your baby is dead! I repeat, dead! Your fight with Sakura had made her out of the normal position with all your moves. And when Kabuto tried to force her out, she got tangled with the umbilical cord. That was the cause of her death, Konan. She had died even before Kabuto's jutsu. She died while in her mother's womb, your womb," Her eyes went wide hearing this.

"Y…You...Li…Lied," she stuttered, praying that everything he said was a lie. "Sakura made a check up on both you and your baby. She found out that your baby had died from suffocation, while she was still in your uterus," he stopped there, watching her taking the information. Konan's eye were still wide, her nerves were numb. How she wished she had never started talking to him. At least the thought that other people killed her baby wouldn't hurt too much. Her baby, her own child lost her life at her own mother's hands, her hands.

The kunoichi looked down at both her hands. Suddenly, they were covered with hot, thick blood. Her own blood, tainted when she took her daughter's life. 'I killed my own daughter. I killed her, I killed her,' her fingers began to shiver. "What have I done? Lord, what have I done?" she whispered frantically as her whole body shivered. Her breathing became heavier, and her brain was not working properly.

"Konan?" he called finally, after seeing her abrupt transformation. Without warning, she screamed at the top of her lungs, holding her head in his hands. "I didn't mean it! Sweetie, Mummy did not mean it!" he acted according to his instinct. Kakashi climbed up the bed and pulled her dangerously quivering body into his muscular ones, trying to comfort her down.

He wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her head, powerful yet gentle in the same time. Konan's brain couldn't register what was going on; she just let herself being embraced by the Copy-Cat Ninja. The tears she had been controlling fall freely as though she hadn't cried in a thousand years, as she snuggled closer to him. Her fists clenched the fabric of his cloth and she buried her face in his chest, crying her heart out.

Kakashi tenderly rubbed her back to soothe the girl. Finally, he had been able to make the girl surrender. A pang of guilt hit him when he realized he did that just for the sake of the mission in the first place. He felt like he was taking advantage on her condition when she really needed help. Konan refused to break the embrace even for a second. She really needed the comfort she found in his arms.

It was amazing how she felt so safe in his arms, even though he was a known enemy to her. When in Pein's arms, she felt needed. When she was in Kisame's hug, Konan just felt a little bit comfort that she found in Itachi, Deidara, Kakuzu, Hidan, and Tobi's hugs. Zetsu's hug was a bit different, she had to jump out before he can "have a nip" at her limps. Sasori also offered the same sense of security in his arms, but Kakashi made her feel completely untouchable.

"Kill me now, Hatake," she sobbed into him. He gently pulled her away and held her chin with his finger, making her to look at him. She didn't resist at all and bore her eyes into his. Kakashi sighed inwardly and tucked her loose strand of hair behind her ears. "I would not let you die before you are well enough. Because we have a rematch to get done with," she hiccupped and continued crying. Kakashi knew, if he did not do it right now, he may not be able to do it again.

He leaned down, looked into her eyes for a moment, before brushing his lips against her, emitting an out of character squeak from her. Kakashi then pressed his lips on herm this time firmer and more confidence. She didn't fight, but instead returned it her hands were still on his chest. He put a hand behind her back and his other hand caressing her hair. It wasn't passionate, it wasn't too simple. But it was a gentle kiss, a perfect one for both of them.

Tsunade, Shizune, Izumo and Kotetsu sneaked a peek at both of them. 'One hour we left them and they had gone this far? My, aren't Kakashi dedicated in his mission,' Tsunade thought with a satisfied smirk. Shizune rubbed her eyes several times to make sure what she was seeing right. Izumo and Kotetsu's jaws dropped at the sight.

Kakashi finally pulled away to breathe. He looked at her to study her reaction, but to his slight disappointment, her emotion was blank. The jounin stood up from the bed and straightened out his clothes. "I'll be coming again tomorrow," he whispered in her ears and turned to leave. Maybe, that mission was not so bad, after all.

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That's it for the chapter. I just want to inform you, Tenshi means Angel in Japanese, and Mikomi means hope (at least that is what the translator said). Please leave your reviews. Thank you very much for reading my story and it is tenfold thank you if you leave a review, even if it is only a word or two. Please???? Ja ne, see you guys soon!


	16. By her side 247

Hi again, everyone! Sorry for not updating for so long. It had been a busy week, but I finally managed to finish this chapter!

Well then, please enjoy, everyone!

Disclaimer: I do not own naruto, sadly...

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**With Pein**

The hideout had begun to become really dirty since Konan left. Sure, they don't mind living in such a place but after Itachi tripped over rotten meat that Zetsu eat and Deidara's clay countless times, Pein had considered on cleaning all of the mess around the area, by himself.

It was a day that everyone was out on missions, with their respective pairs. Pein threw another piece of meat into the garbage can before sitting down on one of the chairs in their kitchen. Before this it was Konan who did all the chores, occasionally he will help. Just not in the presence of the other members.

He tried to get his mind from thinking of his partner, but failed. Every single thing around him reminded him of his blue haired angel. This can't be, he thought to himself and got up from his seat, continuing picking up the rubbish.

However, Pein halted his movements when he picked up a crumpled paper of what used to be an origami shuriken. He remembered witnessing she threw a handful when Deidara, and the mouths on his hands complaint about her cooking.

His hand shivered slightly, easily unnoticeable but still made him felt weak. He can't bring himself to throw it away; it was as though he will throw her away as well. Heavy breath passed through his mouth as he put the crumpled paper on the dining table and tied the black plastic bag.

**With Konan**

It was long past midnight, but she was still wide awake. She couldn't sleep at all, even though tiredness overwhelmed her body. She had been transferred into a smaller room in the hospital. It was approximately only a meter wide and three meters in length and only furnished with the bed she was lying on and a small bedside table.

Her mind was still replaying the kiss she shared with Konoha's Copy-Cat Ninja, Hatake Kakashi. How could she fall too easily to him? He was supposed to be the enemy, not someone she should have any close relationship! Konan touched her lips once more on her own accord.

Konan was not a fool. She knew clearly why Kakashi had done all those to her. Toying with her emotions and then offered her comfort, a gesture he had hoped to soften her a bit. She knew from the look on his face and his other comrades. Did they really think she would fall for their game?

Konan finally got up and leaned against the cool wall behind her back, staring at the ceiling. There had to be some weakness in the room, where she could take advantage from. Sure, she can't use her chakra right now, but Konan was grateful she can still use her limbs freely. She wasn't an Akatsuki for nothing, she still have her brain to survive!

She carefully stepped off her bed and looked around once more. Solid rock, with chakra neutralizers implanted inside them, making escape almost impossible. Keyword, _almost_. If only she can find a weak spot on the wall, maybe she can dig her way out.

The woman got down on her knees and began checking the floor, in case there was any loose piece. So far, her search proved to be futile. In the darkness, she spotted some thick liquid around her. Her hands were soaked in the hot liquid, so she hastily got up and brought her right hand closer to examine the substance.

When the realization hit her, her azure blue eyes widened out of shock. Blood, hot thick blood was dripping from her palms running down her arms. 'What is happening?' she looked at her left hand, praying that all this was just a dream. Her mind seemed to be stopping functioning. A long, shrill scream escaped from her throat as she fall back on her bed, pulling the blanket to cover trembling body.

'Where did the blood come from?' Konan shut her eyes tightly and curled into a fetal position.

**With Kakashi**

He lay in his bed, wide awake. Something in him felt terribly wrong. After seeing Konan in her vulnerable state, Kakashi noticed a weird feeling crept into him. But he brushed it off. It was nothing more than the occasional small feelings he had on some of the females he met before, right?

And he still had a mission on hand to complete, so it wouldn't be surprising if he had some liking on the blue haired kunoichi, would it?

Still, Kakashi prefer to not think about her at all as it was disturbing him, physically, mentally, and emotionally. He saw how she tried to hide her weakness behind some mask, attempting to appear strong and tough. In one way or another, he felt a strong urge to protect her.

Kakashi thought that he was going crazy. Who will ever think of protecting an enemy who was an S-rank criminal, which of course possess threat to the village and especially to his own student, Naruto?

At the first light of dawn, he had already dressed up and began making his way towards the Konoha hospital. He met with Lee and Tenten on the way, and both of Gai's students stopped by to say hello to him. "Good morning, Kakashi-sensei," they greeted him in unison.

"Are you going to the hospital, for your mission?" Tenten asked him directly. She was as straightforward as ever. He shifted uneasily and put his hands in his pocket, replying in a small "Yeah,".

"Thought so. Good luck," she casually patted him on the arm and grinned. "Gai-sensei was quite disappointed when you got the mission instead of him. So, he is training hard right now and promised to beat you next time, Kakashi-sensei," Lee said and bowed slightly.

"Just what is he training right now?" Kakashi asked out of curiosity.

"Why, the art of seduction of course!" only Lee found that to be amusing. Tenten cringed and Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Good luck to him, I suppose," he said under his breath and quickly waved both of them goodbye.

Five minutes walking and he was already at the counter, asking the receptionist for the number of the room Konan was placed right now. "It's a good thing you arrived in time. Our doctors had been having problems with her and couldn't make her take her prescriptions. We're hoping that you can help us," the brunette said in relief. "I'll try my best," was all he said before walking down the halls.

**With Konan**

She opened her eyes slowly and looked at her hands once more. Spotless. A small breathe of relief was heard from her, and she pushed down the blanket before sitting up on her bed. Her attention was abruptly grabbed by the sound of the door being opened and shut, a man in dark blue attire stood in front of her.

"Figured you will come," she said in her usual calm voice. "I must when you started to give the doctors problems, mustn't I?" she rolled her eyes. He stepped closer and looked around for a minute before sitting down at the foot of her bed.

"Like hell I'm going to let them near me," she leaned against the wall as usual, trying to look collected.

"But you let me near you," she turned her face slightly to look at him.

"Only if you don't have any of the medicine with you. Try any way you want, but I'm not going to let that terrible pills going down my throat," she glared at him to make her point before looking straight forward again.

"You never know what I had up on my sleeves," he said provocatively.

"So do I," she replied with equal smugness.

Without warning, he spun around and pounced on her, trying to force the pills inside her mouth. She was saved by her quick reflex, effectively stopped Kakashi's effort.

"Hold your horses, Hatake. Don't be so hasty," she tightened her grip on his right hand which was holding several pills and tablets. His left hand was only an inch away from her throat, with her right hand restraining his movement. Konan had bended her right knee so that it kept a distance between Kakashi's body with her own, her left leg however was pinned down by his right leg.

Their faces were just inches apart, with Kakashi on top of her. He had just realized their position began to feel uneasy, while Konan smirked after she found a thing that she can tease him with. "Feeling awkward, Hatake-_kun_?" his eye visibly widened at this and he wasn't at all ready when she twisted both of them, and she ended up on top of him.

"Like I said, don't be so hasty," she quickly pinned down his movements. Even in her recovery stage and unable to use her chakra, she was exceptionally fast and strong, he noted. "Now I want you to listen carefully," she slowly brought out a senbon needle which she kept hidden in her hair and brought it to a spot on his neck, the spot they both knew will cause fatal if she stab it in there.

**With Pein**

Pein looked through the scroll again. He had decided to take a mission after being off it for so long. That meant it was his first mission alone. But he couldn't wait anymore. He refused to have his hopes too high right now, thinking that probably right now she was already being interrogated by Konoha.

"Where are you going, Leader-sama?" Tobi asked him innocently just as he stepped into their living room. "Mission, as usual Tobi," he replied shortly and walked past his comrade.

"I thought Leader-sama is going to save Konan-chan. Tobi wants to be a good boy and follow Leader-sama to Konoha," Pein stopped dead in his tracks. Tobi's words hit him like a giant hammer.

Mission can wait, Konan was more important to him. Pein turned to face Tobi and smirked. "Would you like to join then?" Tobi nodded excitedly and began yelling his head off about going to save Konan. This caused every single of Akatsuki member to come out from their respective rooms, trying to find out what was going on.

"Enough of that, Tobi. We will be leaving now!" Pein left their hideout and Tobi scrambled to follow him, not before waving goodbye at the other members.

"Does Leader-sama really serious about taking only Tobi with him, un?" Murmurs of agreement were heard.

**With Konan and Kakashi**

After a few minutes quarreling with the doctors and another hour enduring the Godaime Hokage's wrath, Kakashi finally arrived at his apartment, with Konan by his side. He looked sadly at the handcuffs that kept them both together.

"Seriously, your apartment needed some workout Hatake," she commented with a slumber expression. When he slumped on his couch with a dejected sigh, she was accidentally pulled along, and landed on the same couch, not so gracefully.

She grumbled and adjusted herself, scooting as far as possible from him with her eyes glaring angrily on him. She had threatened him to let her out from the hospital in any way that he could think of and in the end, they both found out that the only way to let her free from the hospital is to have him by her 24/7 to prevent escape.

Konan was far relieved when she found out that Konoha could not put her on trial as she actually did not do anything to the village. That means, she will only be put under surveillance.

One side of her was glad that they had not thought so highly of her and confident that she will be secure under Hatake's supervision, though the other side of her was quite mad that they had underestimated her just because she was a woman, who had just lost her baby and was currently suffering from emotional break down.

True, she was in despair after the loss of the baby. But she was a shinobi, a great one at that and shinobi did not show emotions. She had to suck it up and acted as though nothing had happened and try to escape from Konoha to go back.

But after she had achieved her goal, of course. Eliminate Haruno Sakura.

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They had successfully got their showers respectively, with _great_ difficulty. Konan had made sure to make Kakashi put on a paper bag she made from her own paper while she was taking her shower. He however didn't seem to care much about her while he was showering, although once in a while his sharingan trailed to her when he felt something was wrong.

They had quite a simple dinner that she managed to prepare after they spent 5 minutes bickering on what to eat. She refused to eat instant ramen, the only food that he had while he was not going to eat the food she cooked, fearing poison. "I'm not that bad of a cook that can gives you a food poisoning!" she finally huffed angrily and he obeyed, feeling annoyed.

When it was time to dress for bed, she changed from her training attire to looser outfit to sleep with the help of her paper butterflies with ease. In the meantime, he was having a little complication with his own, but finally succeeded with her help.

As soon as his head touched the pillow, Kakashi was fast asleep. Konan looked at him in mild surprise that an elite ninja like himself would sleep that easy in the presence of a known enemy. She finally looked away and sighed lightly.

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The ticking clock on the wall failed to keep her interested. Konan just lay there, not knowing what to do. She knew she can easily escape right now, but she found herself to be hesitating. It was a mystery to her.

She turned her attention back to him, studying his features carefully. His even breathing calmed her out. He was on his side, facing her due to the handcuffs that restraint them from being too apart from each other.

Konan inhaled deeply before moving closer to him. But her movement seemed to disturb him that he stirred in his sleep. A second later, he turned away from her with his cuffed hand placed behind him, between her and him.

It was just a reflex but to Konan, it was a sign. He had turned his back to her, just like that. Konan got up and sat up straight. She was reluctant at first, but carried on fixing his arm so that he can sleep comfortably. Even if that means she will have to sit up all night.

Then she noticed that his pillow was slightly out of position and the blanket had slid down to his waist. On instinct, she lifted his head careful enough not to wake him up and fixed his pillow. Then she reached for the blanket and tucked it carefully under his chin. To her disappointment, he didn't turn back to face her but continued sleeping instead.

Before she can stop herself, hot tears made their way to her eyes and began to fall one by one. Her situation reminded her of her days back with the Akatsuki members. She remembered having entered their rooms and watched each of them sleep. She remembered how she fixed their pillows and tucked them in, and sometimes she will caress their hair while singing a lullaby.

It was too painful to her right now. Her emotions were swirling around, losing control. Even though she knew that Kakashi was trying to break her down, and she acted tough in front of him, she was in pain. Konan don't know how much longer can she put up a fight with Kakashi's words but she knew that it was affecting her deeply.

She was feeling alone right now, away from the Akatsuki. And even Kakashi the only person who she had ever talked to in Konoha had turned his back to her. She no longer had her baby in her, nor did she have anyone dear to her anymore. Few minutes into crying silently, Konan wiped away the tears that smeared her face.

She bent her head slowly and kissed his forehead gently, hoping that it will make her feel at least accompanied. Little did she knew, in a dark corner of the room, a shadow clone of him was watching her every move intently.

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Thank you for reading and reviews! Have a good day everyone!


	17. What's inside the scroll?

Hello everyone! I'm so sorry for not updating for quite a long time. I know this chapter is shorter than some of the others, but this was what I have come up with for the 17th chapter of The Reason: To Love an Avenger. I really hope you like it, have a nice holiday!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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**With Konan**

Konan didn't realize what time did she finally fall asleep. Only when she felt someone shaking her slightly did she opened her eyes and rubbed it. "You might want to watch it next time, Konan," Kakashi was pulled down, his arm outstretched in her direction. She smirked, and pulled her hand further causing him to fall back on the bed. "What is wrong with you, woman?" he shouted angrily and got up, pulling the handcuffs. She in turn tumbled on the bed before she can finally get off.

"Shower, then?" she asked casually and walked down to the bathroom. Kakashi shook his head and sighed. He was so going to ask extra paying for this kind of mission. And to think that Naruto and Sakura had forced him to go training with them. It will be a long day for one Hatake Kakashi, especially with that Akatsuki woman tagging along.

**With Pein**

Pein walked at normal pace, saving his energy throughout a journey. It was a good seven days journey if he would be continuing in this speed. "Oi, Leader-sama! You sure are taking your time!" he looked back. The only one who would say something like that would be, "Deidara? What are you doing here? And the rest of you?" the youngest Akatsuki grinned from the top of his clay bird.

"We couldn't let you go off alone with Tobi, could we?" Kisame appeared to his side; in his hand was a paper flower. "That is…," Pein's voice trailed off. Kisame looked down at the flower and nodded. "Konan's flower. She's fine right now. She used the Morse Code using her charka," he replied before pocketing it.

"Ne, we can't let only you to show off in front of her," Hidan added on, swinging his scythe carelessly. "Watch you scythe out, Hidan!" Kakuzu was annoyed with him, as usual. Pein shook his head at those two's bickering before turning back to face forward. "Okay, then. We will capture the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki also. It's killing two birds with one stone," Konan, just wait for us!

**With Konan**

Konan watched in interest as Naruto and Sakura sparring against each other, Kakashi slumped lazily next to her holding his orange book in his other hand. Even so, he didn't fail to notice the unusual look on Konan's face as she followed Sakura and Naruto's every step. "My, my, aren't you enjoy watching their fight?" he intended it to be a sarcasm, but she merely nodded without looking at him. Kakashi closed his book and leaned forward, waving his hand in front of her.

Startlingly, she slapped away his hand and resumed watching them, secretly trying to find each of their weakness and strength. Kakashi narrowed his eyes and moved in front of her. "What are you planning?" he asked her forcefully, his face was just a centimeter away from hers. Konan finally looked annoyed, and pushed him out of her way. "Mind your own business. I didn't bug you about that dirty book," she said and continued watching the fight.

Kakashi finally had enough, and quickly got up. Konan followed his suit, though begrudgingly. "I'm starving and we are going to eat right now!" he said and tugged on the handcuffs. "Nope, we are going to eat after your students finish their sparring," she tugged them. "Now!" he said, pulling it harder that causing her wrist to hurt. "After they finished!" she also increased her voice tone to match his.

"I said now, Konan!" he practically yelled at the top of his lungs. That automatically caused both Naruto and Sakura to stop their spar, and watched the scene between the two older shinobis. "Where are you manners, Hatake? You want to eat without your students even though they were working hard while you were just lazing around reading that stupid porn!" Naruto and Sakura looked at each other.

"I would have joined them if I weren't stuck with a noisy bitch like you!".

"Watch you mouth, Hatake! Or I'll rip your tongue out!".

"As if you can do that!".

"Oh yes I can! Want me to prove it?".

"Ooh, so scary! The Paper woman wanted to rip my tongue out! Ten years too early!".

"You've gone too far! Take this, Hatake!".

"Ouch, hey get off me!".

In the end, Naruto and Sakura had to break the two off, though they were still pretty attached to each other. "Now, let's go for ramen!" the blonde-haired ninjas suggested nervously, underneath the glares of the two of them. Sakura also nervously agreed to the idea and hurriedly they pushed both Kakashi and Konan towards Naruto's favourite restaurant.

Passing Konoha citizens shot them a terrified look, scurrying away from their path. Konan secretly enjoyed this, every time she suddenly opened her eyes and stared a person down; the person will immediately fumbled away, some even left a shoe behind. Only those from higher ranking shinobis will look at her in loath instead of fear.

Even Teuchi of the Icihiraku Ramen Stall didn't talk as much, and Ayame was nowhere to be seen. Both Kakashi and Konan struggled with their chopsticks, because they were both handcuffed on their main arms. Kakashi's right hand and Konan's left. It took them a full thirty minutes to completely finish a bowl of ramen, and Naruto had reached his sixth bowl.

Konan hated the trouble she had to go through while being cuffed to him, but rather than being stuck in the hospital. Plus, she was really enjoying the moments when the Hatake was really pissed off every time his hand was restrained when he wanted to do something. And when she made him attend the training session on time, they actually arrived two hours early than Naruto and Sakura did. Apparently, they had expected him to arrive late and give him an earlier time.

And really deep, deep, _deep_ down, she began enjoying spending time with the jounin.

**With Pein**

"Leader-sama, Konan sent in another signal," Kisame slowly approach the Leader, holding out the paper flower. "What does she say this time?" he asked without stopping to turn to Kisame.

"Certain information about the Jinchuuriki. And she also said to leave Haruno Sakura alone. She said she wanted to finish the girl off by her own," Kisame reported in such a formal tone.

"Fine, what did she have about the Jinchuuriki?" Pein finally looked interested. Kisame began to fill him, and the rest of the Akatsuki of the information Konan had just told him.

**With Konan**

Konan lay awake like the night before, unable to sleep. Her mind was too distracted to do so, thinking of all the stuffs that was happening to her lately. From her departure from the Akatsuki hideout to where she was, in Konoha. She had gone leap and bounds to her target, but approaching a dangerous trap in the same time. In the mean time, she was just glad Kakashi was in no mood to play more psychological games with her.

She carefully turned to her side and looked at him again. Hatake, the one who had been bothering her lately, both physically and emotionally. Konan sighed slightly and turned to look up at the ceiling again. What should she do? Which one should become her priority? Was she doing the right thing by telling _that _to the Akatsuki through Kisame? Or was it a bad move both for her and her comrades?

Konan knew she had to act fast, before any unwanted feelings bloomed. She had to be quick to eliminate Sakura, before she found it harder to make _him_ lose another close person. Konan began to think of a way to accomplish her goal, without involving him or the Akatsuki. She had to find a way to lure that Haruno away from Kakashi's watchful eyes, which means she had to find a way to get rid of the cuffs first.

* * *

"Konan," Kakashi called to her after they finished their breakfast. She just glanced at him, waiting for him to continue. "Kazekage-sama had asked me to give something to you," he pulled out an old looking scroll and handed it to her across the table. Konan looked curiously and began to unroll it in haste. Her eyes read between the lines written on it, and she gasped slightly.

"What is it?" Kakashi asked out of curiosity, but she held up her left hand and started reading the second time before she slammed her palm against the table. It can't be! It just can't be, she just couldn't believe it. This had just make her thoughts grew complicated, something that she really did not need at that time.

Slowly, Konan rolled back the scroll and kept it away from the table. She ignored Kakashi's questions completely, and didn't even responding to anything he said or did. It was like she was in her own world, away from other people. Kakashi was puzzled by this, but decided to let it pass by. He wouldn't waste his time worrying over her; it will just make his feelings going crazy again.

They walked together through the still quite empty streets. Only the really early risers can be seen already up and started their daily chores. Unlike her little favourite activity of staring down people, Konan kept her eyes on the ground, occasionally kicking the pebbles that were on her way. Why did her life had to be so complicated?

**With Kabuto**

"Orochimaru-sama, please forgive me. I failed to bring you Pein's baby," the gray-haired medic nin was on his knees, bowing his head apologetically. The addressed man turned to him, his eyes flashed dangerously with anger. "Didn't I tell you that failure will not be tolerated?" he flicked out his ridiculously long tongue to intimidate his subordinate. Kabuto bowed even lower before replying.

"Demo, the baby was already dead when I tried to force it out of her. Though the side effects of the jutsu used was still progressing. By now she will already be experiencing the symptoms, and sooner or later, the effect will take place," he was brave a bit to raise his face to wait for Orochimaru's reaction.

"And may I know what the effect would be?" the Snake Sannin inquired, raising an eyebrow slightly. Kabuto smirked, and began telling Orochimaru what he wanted to know.

Orochimaru found himself smiling in delight. "Well, I suppose I can forgive you this time, Kabuto. You may leave now," his subordinate nodded and quickly exited the room, not without thanking him though.

**With Konan**

She reread the scroll for the fifth time before storing it away for good. True enough, it made her feelings got more complicated, but in the same time she felt some of the bigger things she had been struggling to manage were solved almost immediately after reading it. Kakashi beside her just watched, hoping to pick up any clue from whatever she was reading.

Konan noticed this of course, and quickly turn away from him. "Why don't you continue reading that dirty book of yours?" she snapped harshly and glared hard. Kakashi was a bit taken aback but resumed to his earlier activity, reading his Icha Icha Paradise. Naruto and Sakura were practicing with their kunai throwing, hoping to achieve perfect aim like Tenten. The Weapon Mistress had proved several times that having a 100% accurate aim was very paying off.

Even though he appeared to be giving up, Kakashi swore to try to find out what the scroll was about. Too bad Gaara had put on a special seal that only Konan can take off on the scroll earlier. But Kakashi just happened to have thought off an easy way to do so.

* * *

Well, anyone curious to know what was written inside the scroll, what side effect Kabuto was talking about, sorry, but I'm afraid you have to wait for the next chapter to find out! Have a great day, everyone!

Thank you very much to those who spent their time reading this story, double thanks for those who reviewing it, triple thanks for those who liking it, and so many thank you for those who will come back for the next chapter!


	18. Breaking news!

Hello, everyone! First and foremost, I want to apologize to all of you for letting you guys wait for so long! With schools, major exam, transfering school, science projects, hostel and stuffs, I'm very busy for the last several months, so.... I'm sorry!

I want to thank all those who have read my stories, and double thanks to those who have been following this story for so long, thank you very much!

Also, thank you very much to all of you who have reviewed and gave many useful tips for me, I'm eternally grateful! And to those who have put this story on their favourite lists and alert lists, many thanks also! All of you guys are the best!

I have came up with a new chapter for this story, and I tried reread and reread it over and over again, and hope it will satisfy all of you. Anyway, let's head out!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.....

* * *

**With Konan**

She was scheduled to see Morino Ibiki in two days time, so Kakashi thought she would be going to need some peace time before the appointment. Konan however thought that his whole idea sucked. Why?

She really didn't see how having a picnic with five jounins, nine chuunins and the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki can be peaceful. What was wrong with that Copy-Cat Ninja? One minute he was all calm and cool, the next minute he acted as if he was out of his mind! It irritated her to no end but in the same time that particular quality made her feel attracted to him.

And now she was sitting next to Kakashi, glaring deadly at everyone present. Especially the strange-dressed man with bowl cut hair that couldn't stop batting his eyelashes or reciting love quotes to her. What was his problem? To make it worse, he inched closer and closer to her by every minute and she just had to get away from him. Every time he scooted closer to her, she will move closer towards Kakashi who were lazing in the sun, his favourite reading material propped on his face so she couldn't really tell whether he had drifted asleep or not.

The youngsters plus Kurenai and Asuma were all playing volleyball, and they were doing quite a hard time to restrain themselves from using chakras. After Tenten spiked the ball for five times in a row, Lee was too determined to make up for his team's score loss. He dashed forward, and already they could guess what he was about to do. "LEE, DON'T!!!". "Konoha Senpuu, Volleyball style!" he spun and used his signature movement on the ball. The opposing team quickly got out of the way as the ball zoomed past them at incredible speed.

The ball was lost between the trees and they all turned to look at Lee again. Tenten, Asuma, Shino, Shikamaru, Ino, Naruto and Neji got back up to their feet, dusting their clothes off. "Seriously, Lee. How we are going to play now that the ball possibly ended at the village walls?" Tenten asked while crossing her arms in front of her. Silence fell between them (with dramatic cricket sound in the background). "Let's play something else, shall we?" Ino said with an awkward smile, trying to get everyone else's mind off the matter.

"How about hide-and-seek?" she suggested cheerily. "Please don't be such a baby, Ino," Shikamaru snorted at her idea. "Plus, we'll know that Neji and Team 8 will surely win every time," Tenten piped in. "Fetch, anyone?". "We're not dogs, Kiba! Don't know if you're one or not?" Naruto whined and blow raspberry to his direction. Kiba with the joined force of Akamaru tackled him to the ground, knocking him out of breath. Akamaru was not the little puppy he used to be.

"Or maybe-" "GET AWAY FROM ME YOU FREAK!!" their attention was turned to the source of ear-splitting scream. The female Akatsuki was desperately keeping Gai who was puckering his lips, away from her using her foot, with a slightly disheveled Kakashi trapped between them. "I never knew Gai had it in for the woman," Asuma commented with a hint of interest. "Oh please, he was doing it for the sake of the mission. Well, Kakashi's mission actually. I believe he's trying to show that he can do a better job than Kakashi in the mission," Kurenai replied with a slight sarcasm.

"Go on, Gai-sensei! Charm her and sweep her off her feet!" Lee cheered for his sensei, while Tenten unconsciously grabbed Neji and shook him roughly. "Neji, do something!". Ino made a face and flipped back her ponytail over her shoulders, "I really hate to be in her shoes right now,". Meanwhile the others were just watching with interest on what would happen next.

Konan tried to reach for Kakashi's kunai but he was faster to grab her wrist, stopping her from touching his ninja gear whatsoever. "What do you think you're doing?" he whispered threateningly in her ear. "To kill that freakish friend of yours! He won't leave me alone,"she answered angrily, pointing a finger in Gai's direction. "My youthful Blue-chan. No matter how hard you try, I know you couldn't resist my charms!" even Kakashi backed away from Gai who suddenly knelt down with a red rose in his mouth and winked at her. "What have you done to him, Konan?" Kakashi asked from the corner of his mouth to Konan who was hiding behind him. "I didn't do anything! Just keep him away from me!" she said urgently, and continued hiding behind him.

"Ah, Kakashi my eternal rival! I may have the leading score, but it seemed to me that you have successfully captured the heart of my lovely, youthful Blue-chan! The maiden of my dreams, the one who I am willing to die for just to see a smile on her pretty face. Kakashi, I will never forgive you if you ever caused even a single tear to fall from those beautiful eyes!" Gai continued, crawling closer towards both of them. "What is he doing?" Kakashi spun his face slightly to face her who was practically clinging on his back right now. "No idea. Now let's get out of here, and fast before I go insane!" she retorted back. "Make that both of us!" just before Gai could attempt to kiss her again, Kakashi leapt back and quickly sped off to the opposite side of the town.

* * *

"Phew, that was close," Konan exhaled in relieve as Kakashi landed on a deserted training ground, far enough from Gai and also everyone else. "Whoever gave you the permission to ride on my back?" it was a different story for Kakashi though, he tried to cross his arms across his chest but again, the cuffs won't let him. "I gave the permission so shut your yapping!" she hit him on the shoulder hard. "Ouch, that hurts!" he turned his masked face and rubbed his shoulder with his free hand.

"Stop whining, and take it like a man!".

"Whatever, just get off me now! You're heavy!".

"No, besides I carried you when we're escaping the Inn not so long ago. You're heavier!".

"At least I don't cling on you like you're doing right now! You're harassing me, sexually!"

"Why would I want to commit any act of sexual harassment, towards you of all people?!". she shouted in his ear and smacked him on the head.

"How should I know? Maybe you find me attractive, perhaps?". Another smack.

"In your dreams, Hatake!".

"This is never going to end," he sighed in despair and leaned back against a tree trunk.

"Ouch, watch it!" she was trapped between his body and the tree trunk. "I think I heard someone's talking. Oh well, I'm just dreaming," he pretended to look around him, before leaning in closer to the tree. Konan was squished even closer to him. "Hatake, get off me!" she warned him. "What was it? Lean in closer? No problem," he chuckled lightly and squished her even more. "You....a..sm...gnn..get..it," her voice was muffled so he couldn't quite understand what she was saying. "What was it, _Blue-chan_?" Konan grew beet red hearing his teasing.

"I said, You are so gonna get it, Hatake Kakashi!" finally, he let her go and she was able to breathe properly again. He laughed openly at her and lied down on the grass. "Come and have a nap too, Konan," he invited her, patting the empty spot next to him. Konan, though still mad at him figured that there was nothing else to do except following his lead.

"Konan?" Kakashi turned his face to his right to look at her.

"What?" she responded without opening her eyes.

"What's in the scroll?" he asked hopefully.

"Not important for you to know," she replied in a monotonous voice.

"So you wouldn't tell me?" he rolled over and quickly got on top of her.

"What are you doing?" Konan could sense him hovering over her though her eyes were still closed.

" Tell me what's in the scroll, or...," he threatened playfully.

"Or what?" she challenged him to say more.

"Or this!" he swooped down and gave her a surprise kiss on her lips. Her icy blue eyes immediately snapped open.

"N..No. I wouldn't t..tell you! No matter what you'll do!" Konan couldn't believe she had just stuttered in her sentence just now.

"Maybe you like it? How about this?" he raised an eyebrow suggestively and swooped down for another kiss, this time nibbling her lower lips lightly.

"Still not telling you! A few kisses wouldn't bother me!" she looked away from him, trying to hide her face.

"Really? Then, you'll like this," he noticed she closed her eyes and her body tensed as he swooped down again. He purposely let his hot breath tickled the skin on her neck. He slowly kissed her ear and moving down to her neck. When he was about to reach her collarbone, Konan pushed him away, her face was flushing red.

"Fine, I'll talk. Please...don't do that anymore," she panted slightly, her heart was racing madly.

"Figured you will spill it out," he smirked triumphantly, but still haven't got off her.

"It is Akasuna no Sasori's old scroll. The Suna village kept it as evidence in investigating about his defection of the village," she said truthfully, and he could tell that she was indeed telling the truth.

"What does it say?" he urged further on, though she paused to catch her breath.

"His oath, and goals and some other things. As usual, getting stronger, protecting the loved ones, world peace and things. Though he did mention Konoha's White Fang in it," she instantly noticed the sudden change of look in his eye.

"Konoha's White Fang? What did he wrote about Konoha's White Fang?" Kakashi asked quietly, and looked away from her.

"He said wanted to claim revenge for killing his parents. Do you happen to know this Konoha's White Fang?" she asked with an interest look on her face.

"So what? So you can kill him also to avenge Sasori?" he retorted quickly, filled with sarcasm.

"No..I just...," she stumbled with her own words, taken aback by the drastic change of his mood.

"What is it with you and revenge? What's the point of being an avenger?" he glared her sharply.

"And what is it with you with revenge?" she bounced back.

"He's my father, the White Fang," he answered and slowly got off her, sitting on the ground with his back facing her.

"Hatake?" she got up and put her hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?" she gave him a light squeeze.

"Konan, you really do love Sasori don't you?" she was caught off guard by his question. Hesitantly, she nodded.

"And you wanted to kill Sakura in order to avenge his death. Is that true?" again, she nodded. After all, he was the one who intercepted her fight with Haruno Sakura.

"Don't you think that it was pointless, all these revenge stuffs?" she raised an eyebrow at his words.

"What do you mean, Hatake?" she got closer to him and sat next to the jounin.

"If you kill Sakura to avenge Sasori, then Naruto and I will kill you to avenge Sakura. And the Akatsuki will kill us to avenge you, and the Konoha will hunt down them to avenge us, and the flow will keep continuing. So what's the point in you trying to kill Sakura?" finally, Konan found someone that tried to knock some senses into her.

"I have lost my loved ones too, Konan. I have considered to avenge their deaths too, Konan. But I didn't, because someone made me realized that all these revenge stuffs are wrong. I felt the same pain you felt, Konan. But revenge is not the solution," he continued, pulling out a kunai and began playing with it. "You have no right to tell me what's wrong and what's right. You didn't really understand what I've been through, so don't act like you know it better than I do!" she snarled angrily.

"My father committed suicide right in front of my eyes because of his comrades! My best friend died to save my life! My teammate died in the Shinobi War! I lost my sensei to the Kyuubi attack! Now tell me Konan, should I avenge my father and track down every single comrade that caused him to do so? Should I kill myself for letting my bestfriend die in my place? Should I track down every single shinobi involved in the Shinobi War and kill them for killing my teammate? Should I kill the Kyuubi contained in my student's body to avenge my sensei? I don't think so!" he snapped back, something he rarely did.

"Then, what should I do, Hatake? Tell me!" she demanded, still angry with him for contradicting her actions.

"Stop it! All of these revenge and avenging things! Face it, Konan. You have lost everything! Your baby, your lover, your friends! Most importantly, you have started losing your life!" Kakashi lost her temper, grabbed her shoulders and made her look at him. Konan's eye widened at the piece of news, and wondered why did he bowed his face down. Kakashi on the other hand, berated himself for letting it slip just like that. Tsunade told hm in his mission scroll that it was supposed to be a secret.

"Wh..What do...you mean, Hatake?".

Kakashi remain silent, wondering if he should tell her or not. Konan was still not satisfied, putting her hand under his chin and made him look at her eyes.

"You better tell me, Hatake!" she said forcefully, half threatening him in the process.

"I'm sorry, Konan. But you have little time left," Kakashi said slowly.

* * *

So, this is where chapter 18 ends... I'll try to post chapter 19 as soon as possible. Once again, thank you very much for spending time to read!

Please review, and you will make me happy for weeks! Have a nice day, everyone! (^^,)


	19. Letting go is the hardest thing to do

Hello there, everyone! I'm finally back.. I deeply apologize for the LOOOOOOOOONGGGGG hiatus. It had been quite a rough year for me and now finally I'm back on track. Therefore, I want to thank all of those who had shown great support to this story and to my other stories, you guys Rock! Thank you very much to those who had spent their times reading, reviewing, liking, and many more, you guys had made up my day! Let's not waste time anymore, getting back with the story!

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

"Stop it! All of these revenge and avenging things! Face it, Konan. You have lost everything! Your baby, your lover, your friends! Most importantly, you have started losing your life!" Kakashi lost her temper, grabbed her shoulders and made her look at him. Konan's eye widened at the piece of news, and wondered why he bowed his face down. Kakashi on the other hand, berated himself for letting it slip just like that. Tsunade told him in his mission scroll that it was supposed to be a secret.

"Wh..What do...you mean, Hatake?".

Kakashi remain silent, wondering if he should tell her or not. Konan was still not satisfied, putting her hand under his chin and made him look at her eyes.

"You better tell me, Hatake!" she said forcefully, half threatening him in the process.

"I'm sorry, Konan. But you have little time left," Kakashi said slowly.

"I don't understand," she said finally, breaking the silence between the two of them. Kakashi lifted his face to look at her and let out a long, heavy sigh. When he saw the look inside her eyes, a pity feeling crept into his heart.

"The jutsu Kabuto used on you had its own side effects. Instead of just extracting the baby from your womb, he had also pulled out some important nerves and blood vessels inside you…," he paused momentarily, assessing her reaction. Konan continued staring at him in anticipation, nodded once as a signal for him to continue.

"Tsunade-sama had fixed some of the injuries, and some organs. But, there's a limit to what humans can do… Some of your injuries are fatal and beyond repair. I'm afraid your time is running out," Kakashi finished telling her the news, and carefully touched her shoulder. "Is it really…." Her voice trailed off, staring off the distance.

Konan knew this moment would come some day, death was inevitable to anyone. But she never thought it would be this fast, and so far away from her fellow Akatsuki members. "I see," she whispered quietly before she lowered her gaze.

Trying her best to remain calm and collected, Konan grasped the ground to draw back any kind of emotions that had threatened to explode inside her. Her actions made Kakashi felt a little bit of worry for her condition. "I didn't mean it to be this harsh, but it is reality," he tried to console her, though somehow it did not sound right.

"I know," to his surprise, Konan replied calmly, looking at him with a somber smile. Seeing her desperate attempt to hide her true feelings, Kakashi began to feel sorrier for her than he had ever been. "It is so thoughtful of you trying to keep it from me," she added, and kept on pasting the forced smile on her face.

Nevertheless, Kakashi thought she was still beautiful. Even in her distraught state, she was still vividly stunning to him. He swore he can sit down for hours just to see her smile, even if it was not a genuine one.

"Maybe we should go home. You really need some rest," he suggested, and for the first time she did not object or refused.

**With Akatsuki**

Pein looked at all of the members of the Akatsuki one by one. They were currently at the border of Earth Country, taking their own leisure time to reach Konoha. "What else did she said about Konoha?" he asked Kisame, who was sitting on a fallen log, loyally holding the flower in his hand. The shark-like man straightened up and exchanged looks with Itachi who sat next to him.

"She said that the Jinchuuriki will go into a mission in two days time, in the Lightning Country along with someone called Yamato, Sai, and Haruno Sakura," out came the answer. But judging from the tone, Pein knew Kisame was hiding something. "Is that all?" he inquired.

Kisame once again exchanged looks with Itachi. He was hesitant to inform their Leader of Konan's current condition, but Itachi had a different idea. He knew Pein would have to know about it sooner or later. "Konan's dying. And she told us to leave Konoha alone. Just go after the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki," Itachi's words grabbed everybody's attention.

"Leave Konoha alone? Did she mean to stay there?" Pein asked impatiently, to which Itachi and Kisame simultaneously nodded.

"She intended to die there, in Konoha?" again, the shark-man and Uchiha nodded their heads. The others just watched the interaction between the three of them. Pein exhaled harshly and stood up, facing away from the rest of them.

'Konan, what are you playing at right now? I need you by my side,' he thought and closed his powerful eyes. His outstanding abilities suddenly seemed useless without her by his side.

"Leader-sama, I think it's best that we follow her wish and concentrate on the Jinchuuriki instead. She's a grown woman, she knew what's best for her and for the rest of us," after a moment of thinking, Kakuzu voiced out his opinion, and did it quite politely. "Yes, I'm afraid I have to agree with Kakuzu on that one," Hidan too gave his decision, without any cursing words. This greatly surprised the other members.

Pein thought for a little while, and looked at Deidara, Zetsu, Tobi, Itachi and Kisame. Four of them seemed to be agreeing with Hidan and Kakuzu, only Kisame appeared reluctant to do so. "If she is really dying, all the best we can do for her is respect her wish,un," Deidara piped in.

"Very well. Itachi and Kisame, you guys are to capture the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. The others, you might as well help them, or you may choose to do independent missions for the time being. I'm going for Konan," without waiting for the other's answer to it, he scooped Konan's paper flower from Kisame's palm and disappeared from sight.

With that, the rest of them also got up and went for the different directions in their respective pairs. Everyone except for Kisame and Itachi. The older of the two was still staring blankly on his palms, where her flower had lain before. "Kisame, we have to move now," Itachi reminded him.

Halfheartedly, his partner rose and followed his trail. "Sooner or later you still have to let her go. Even if Sasori is gone and no matter how hard we tried, both of us would never stand a chance to win her heart," Itachi's direct confession shocked the former member of Seven Swordsmen of Mist Village. He had never thought Itachi was secretly in love with the kunoichi too. But the young man was better in controlling his emotions than he did. Deep inside, Kisame realized he should follow Itachi's example and learn to let go off his feelings for her.

**With Kakashi and Konan**

Kakashi stared up at the ceiling, his left hand propped against the back of his head. Next to him, Konan did almost the same thing except that her free hand was on her stomach. "Ne, Hatake?" she said out of the blue. Kakashi turned his face to look in her direction, not uttering a syllable at all. "When your father died, didn't you felt like you have lost a great part of yourself? Like you're never a whole person anymore," she asked in a quiet voice, still looking straight ahead.

"Of course I did. I bounced back, and regained myself. You should really drop off intentions of revenge whatsoever, and focus on finding other strengths in your life," he offered her a piece of advice, which felt strange especially in their situation right now. Konan closed her eyes and exhaled gently.

"It's a little too late, don't you think?" she smiled weakly, the best she could do to cover her true feelings.

"Yes, I guess," he replied carefully, not a single moment looking away from the sad smile playing in her face.

"I've lost everything by now. I've lost them to my stupid idea of revenge," said Konan. She finally turned her face to look at his masked face. "I wished you have told me that earlier,".

Kakashi wanted nothing more than to hug her and relieve the pain she felt in her heart. Secretly, it pained him too to see her suffering the way she did at that moment. He knew that as a true shinobi, she would refuse to display her emotions, let alone in front of an enemy like him. But judging from the heavy burden she carried, the loss of her child and the prospect of facing death, it must have taken a lot of willpower from her to not cry. To him, Konan was one of the strongest people he had ever known, physically and mentally.

"I thought I would redeem my pleasure and satisfaction from avenging Sasori's death, but it turned out to be the foulest and foolest thing I had ever done," her voice quivered as she said the words, was fighting hard with her inner self.

Without thinking, Kakashi pulled her into his arms, embracing her now trembling body. "Let it all out," he whispered in her right ear. She did not reply. But he could hear her tiny sobs, muffled by his sweatshirt. A woman will always be a woman. No matter how tough and strong they are, there will always be a soft part in her that shines her inner beauty.

As her sobs grew worse, Kakashi began caressing her back to comfort her down. In a daring attempt, he kissed the top of her head and began wiping away the heavy tears flowing freely on her face. It was just like the first time she woke up in the hospital. Again, she bowed her face to hide the tears she was shedding from him. She thought that her tears marked her weakness.

"Ne, Hatake?" she called again, sounding so innocent and scared. "Can you...hold me like this, for the rest of the night?" her request made him look down into her watery eyes. "Just for tonight! That's it," she said quickly, trying to cover up her embarrassment. But there was no way Kakashi could miss the blush that appeared on her face, and he happily complied.

Konan felt more secure as he embraced her closer and rested his chin on top of her head. 'Forgive me, Sasori. I had to break my promise of loving only you,' she thought as her eyelids dropped, drifting into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

Phew, another chapter done. It had been along time since I have been writing stories, so forgive me for any mistakes or weakness that you have found. And also, please leave a review to help me improvise my work! Thank you, minna-san! Have a nice day:-D


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